Probably, the answer to the question, how is organismal complexity encoded by genomes, lies not in number of genes in an organism, rather in the regulation of gene expression including that by small-RNAs (smRNAs). We explore this hypothesis by combining systems biology, next-generation deep sequencing, experimental and field biology approaches. Current projects include:

1. The role of small-RNA pathways in plant stress adaptation
2. Understanding conceptual parallels between eukaryotic and prokaryotic small-RNA pathways
3. The role of small-RNA pathway in regulating S. meliloti adaptation during symbiosis
4. Exploring 21^st generation antibiotics

1. PhD,  Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, and FSU, Jena, Germany (2004-2007)
2. Advance Post-Graduate Diploma in Bioinformatics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India (2003-2004)
3. MSc (Ag) in Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India (2001-2003)
4. BSc (Ag) Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India (1997-2001)

1. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (IISERK), India (July 2011 - till now)
2. Head of Max Planck-India partner group of Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology at IISERK (July 2011 - till now)
3. Post-doctoral associate, Dept. of Biology (Graham Walker lab), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA (Nov. 2008 - June 2011)
4. Post-doctoral fellow, Dept. of Plant Microbe Interaction (Imre Somssich lab), Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany (March 2008 - Oct. 2008)
5. Post-doctoral fellow, Dept. of Molecular Ecology (Ian Baldwin lab), Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany (Sept. 2007 - Feb. 2008)

1. Head of Max Planck-India partner group of Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology at IISERK (selected in 2011)
2. Otto-Hahn Medal of Max Planck Society, Germany (2009)
3. Life Science and Physics Award of Beutenberg-Campus Jena e.V., Jena, Germany (2009)
4. Max Planck Fellowship for Post-doctoral research (2007- 2008)
5. Summa cum laude for Ph.D. thesis (2008)
6. Max Planck Fellowship for PhD work (2004-2007)
7. CSIR JRF-NET fellowship (Joint CSIR-UGC (India) Junior Research Fellowship and Eligibility for Lecturership; June 2003)
8. GATE - 2003 (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering)
9. Department of Biotechnology Scholarship (Government of India) for Advanced (PG) Diploma in Bioinformatics (2003 - 2004)
10. Visiting (summer) fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, India (2000)

1. Bozorov TA†, Pandey SP †, Dinh ST, Kim S, Heinrich M, Gase K, Baldwin IT (2012): DICER like proteins and their role in plant-insect interaction in Nicotiana attenuata. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, Accepted article doi:10.1111/j.17447909.2012.01104.x †Equal contribution
2. Pandey SP, Minesinger BK, Kumar J and Walker GC (2011): A highly conserved protein of unknown function in Sinorhizobium meliloti affects sRNA regulation similar to Hfq. Nucleic Acids Research, 39 (11): 4691-470.
3. Pandey SP, Roccaro M, Logemann E, Somssich IE (2010): WRKY 18 and 40 transcription factors modulate key Arabidopsis responses to powdery mildew infection. The Plant Journal, 64: 912-923.