Tarun Pal is an Assistant Professor of Computational Biology (Bioinformatics) at the School of Bioengineering and Food Technology at Shoolini University. Previously, Pal was a Senior Postdoc Researcher at the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben Gurion University, Israel. Prior to that, he was an Assistant Professor at Vignan's Foundation for Science, Technology, and Research in Guntur. His research journey also includes a significant role as a Research Associate in the 'Decoding Tea Genome Project' at the National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology (now known as the National Institute for Plant Biotechnology) in New Delhi.
He earned his PhD in Computational Biology from Jaypee University of Information Technology in Himachal Pradesh. His doctoral work was part of the prestigious Programme Support Scheme under the 'Centres of Excellence' initiative by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. During his PhD, he made notable contributions to developing Machine Learning-based tools for predicting disease resistance proteins in plants (DRPPP) and exploring novel metabolic pathways for the biosynthesis of essential phytochemicals in endangered Himalayan medicinal herbs.
In his postdoctoral research in Israel, Pal focused on metagenomic profiling projects, emphasising predicting and validating potential predators in environmental and plant samples. His expertise and dedication to advancing the field of Computational Biology make him a valuable member of Shoolini University's faculty.
Publication
- Sood A, Jaiswal V, Chanumolu S. K, Malhotra N, Pal T and Chauhan RS* (2014). Mining whole genomes and transcriptomes of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas) and Castor bean (Ricinus communis) for NBS-LRR genes and defense response associated transcription factors. Molecular Biology Reports, 41(11), 7683-7695. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-014-3661-0 (IF: 2.742).
- Kumar P*, Saini M, Bhushan S, Warghat AR, Pal T, Malhotra N and Sood A (2014). Effect of Salicylic Acid on the Activity of PAL and PHB Geranyl transferase and Shikonin Derivatives Production in Cell Suspension Cultures of Arnebia euchroma (Royle) Johnst—a Medicinally Important Plant Species. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 173(1), 248-258. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-014-0838-x (IF: 3.094).
- Kumar P, Pal T, Sharma N, Kumar V, Sood H and Chauhan RS* (2015). Expression analysis of biosynthetic pathway genes vis-à-vis podophyllotoxin content in Podophyllum hexandrum Royle. Protoplasma, 252(5), 1253-1262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-015-0757-x (IF: 3.186).
- Vashisht I, Mishra P, Pal T, Chanumolu S, Singh TR and Chauhan RS* (2015). Mining NGS transcriptomes for miRNAs and dissecting their role in regulating growth, development, and secondary metabolites production in different organs of a medicinal herb, Picrorhiza kurroa. Planta, 241(5), 1255-1268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-015-2255-y (IF: 4.540).
- Shitiz K, Sharma N, Pal T, Sood H and Chauhan RS* (2015). NGS transcriptomes and enzyme inhibitors unravel complexity of picrosides biosynthesis in Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex. Benth. PLoS One, 10(12): e0144546. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144546 (IF: 3.752).
- Vashisht I, Pal T, Sood H and Chauhan RS* (2016). Comparative transcriptome analysis in different tissues of a medicinal herb, Picrorhiza kurroa pinpoints transcription factors regulating picrosides biosynthesis. Molecular Biology Reports, 43(12), 1395-1409. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-016-4073-0 (IF: 2.742).
- Gupta V, Malhotra N, Pal T and Chauhan RS* (2016). Molecular dissection of pathway components unravels atisine biosynthesis in a non-toxic Aconitum species, A. heterophyllum Wall. 3 Biotech, 6(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-016-0417-7 (IF: 2.893).
- Kumar P, Jaiswal V, Pal T, Singh, J. and Chauhan RS* (2016). Comparative whole-transcriptome analysis in Podophyllum species identifies key transcription factors contributing to biosynthesis of podophyllotoxin in P. hexandrum. Protoplasma, 254(1), 217-228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-015-0938-7 (IF: 3.186).
- Pal T, Malhotra N, Chanumolu S. K and Chauhan RS* (2015). Next-generation sequencing (NGS) transcriptomes reveal association of multiple genes and pathways contributing to secondary metabolites accumulation in tuberous roots of Aconitum heterophyllum Wall. Planta, 242(1):239-58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-015-2304-6 (IF: 4.540).
- Pal T, Jaiswal V and Chauhan RS* (2016). DRPPP: A machine learning based tool for prediction of disease resistance proteins in plants. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 78, 42-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2016.09.008 (IF: 6.698).
- Vashisht I, Pal T, Bansal A and Chauhan RS* (2018). Uncovering interconnections between kinases vis-a-vis physiological and biochemical processes contributing to picroside-I biosynthesis in a medicinal herb, Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex. Benth. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 40(6), 115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-018-2689-5 (IF: 2.736).
- Pal T, Padhan J, Kumar, P, Sood H and Chauhan RS* (2018). Comparative transcriptomics uncovers differences in photoautotrophic versus photoheterotrophic modes of nutrition vis-à-vis secondary metabolites biosynthesis in Swertia chirayita. Molecular Biology Reports, 45 (2), 77-98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-017-4135-y (IF: 2.742).
- Guleria V, Pal T, Sharma B, Chauhan S and Jaiswal V* (2020). Pharmacokinetic and molecular docking studies to design antimalarial compounds targeting Actin I. International Journal of Health Sciences, 15(6), 4-13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8589829/
- Sushma D, Verma A, Asha S, Jaiswal V, Pal T* (2021). Insights into Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Current Understanding, Research, and Therapeutic Updates. Recent Patents on Biotechnology, 16(1), 35 – 63. https://doi.org/10.2174/1872208315666210805152122
- Satwika M.V., Sushma, D.S., Jaiswal, V., Asha, S. Pal T* (2021). The Role of Advanced Technologies Supplemented with Traditional Methods in Pharmacovigilance Sciences. Recent Patents on Biotechnology. 15(1), 34-50. https://doi.org/10.2174/1872208314666201021162704
- Jaiswal V*, Negi A, Pal T (2021). A review on current advances in machine learning based diabetes prediction. Primary Care Diabetes, 15(3), 435-443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcd.2021.02.005 (IF: 2.567).
- Rohilla M., Mazumder A., Saha D., Pal T, Begam S., & Mondal T. K. (2022). Genome-wide identification and development of miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements and intron length polymorphic markers in tea plant (Camellia sinensis). Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-20400-7 (IF: 4.996).
- Pal T*, Anand U, Mitra SS, Biswas P, Tripathi V, Prockow J, et al. (2023). Harnessing and bioprospecting botanical-based herbal medicines against potential drug targets for COVID-19: A review coupled molecular docking studies. Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics. 1-23. DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2187634. (IF: 5.235).
- Das, T., Anand, U., Pal, T., Mandal, S., Kumar, M., Radha, Valsala Gopalakrishnan, A., M. Pérez de la Lastra, J. and Dey, A. (2023). Exploring the potential of CRISPR/Cas genome editing for vegetable crop improvement: An overview of challenges and approaches. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 10.1002/bit.28344. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.28344 (IF: 4.395).
- Anand, U., Pal, T., Zanoletti, A., Suresh, S., Varjani, S., Upamali Rajapaksha, A., Barceló, D. and Bontempi, E.* (2023). The spread of the Omicron variant: identification of knowledge gaps, virus diffusion modelling, and future research needs. Environmental Research. 225 (1), 115612-115612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.115612 (IF: 8.431).
- Shanmuga Priya, S., Vasantha Srinivasan P., B.Altemimi A., Keerthana R., Radhakrishnan N., Senthil-Nathan S., Kalaivani K., Chandrasekar N., Karthi S., Ganesan R., T. Alkanan Z., Pal, T., Prakash Verma O., Prockow J (2023). Bioactive molecules derived from plants in managing Dengue 2 Vector Aedes aegypti (Linn.). Molecules, 28, 2386. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28052386 (IF: 4.927).
- Anand, U., Pal, T., Yadav, N., Kumar Singh, V., Tripathi, V., Kumar Choudhary, K., Kumar Shukla, A., Sunita, K., Kumar, A., Bontempi, E.*, Ma, Y., Kolton, M. and Kishore Singh, A. (2023). The current scenario, and prospects of endophytic microbes: Promising candidates for abiotic and biotic stress management for agricultural and environmental sustainability. Microbial Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-023-02190-1 (IF: 4.192).