I'm a Ph.D. researcher in Plant Molecular Biology, Genomics and Bioinforamtics at Alabama A&M University. My research focuses on how plants respond to biotic and abiotic stress at the molecular level, with a focus on gene regulation, host–microbe interactions, and stress-responsive transcriptomic signatures. My work bridges wet-lab molecular biology with computational genomics pipelines.
🔬 Research focus
- Stress-responsive gene expression and regulatory networks
- Plant–nematode–microbiome interactions
- Rhizosphere microbial community profiling
- Transcriptomics and metagenomics of crop systems
🧪 Wet-lab experience
- DNA and RNA extraction, PCR, RT-qPCR
- ΔΔCt-based gene expression analysis
- SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and phenotypic trait characterization
- Field and greenhouse experimental design
💻 Computational & analytical tools
- R Studio, SAS
- Galaxy, BLAST, command-line bioinformatics tools
- CLC Genomics Workbench (RNA-seq, BS-seq, variant analysis, genome browsing)
- DESeq2, phyloseq, Primer3
- Microbial diversity and community analysis pipelines
💡 Current Projects:
- Investigating gene regulatory networks in plant–nematode–microbiome systems
- Profiling rhizospheric microbial communities associated with reniform nematode infection
- Exploring gene expression signatures under abiotic stress conditions like drought
🎓 Background:
- Master’s in Agronomy (GPA 4.0) – Research on physiological and biochemical traits in microgreens
- Experience managing field trials, lab experiments, and interdisciplinary data pipelines
🔗 Publications and presentations are available in my pinned repositories and under Publications.
- Currently learning: phyloseq, DESeq2, advanced R visualization
- Open to collaboration on multiomics and Bioinformatics.
- Ask me about: plant molecular biology, bioinformatics workflows, nematode–microbe interactions
- How to reach me: LinkedIn or sravan.sanathanam@gmail.com
- Pronouns: he/him
- Fun fact: I once presented my entire thesis pitch in under 3 minutes and placed top 3!
Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to check out my repositories for research scripts, analysis pipelines, and ongoing work (which I am planning to upload soon as I take on new projects).