Debabrata Dutta

About

I am a UKRI Horizon Europe Marie Curie post-doctoral researcher at the Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. I achieved a PhD in Botany from Bose Institute and University of Calcutta, India, an MSc in Botany from Presidency University, Kolkata, India.

My research interests are focused on improving crop production and disease resistance through molecular breeding, and my experience includes advanced protein modelling, disease scoring, and transcriptome data analysis. I conducted research on improving sesame varieties with better oil profile and disease resistance through molecular marker assisted breeding, and currently investigating wheat immunity towards Zymoseptoria tritici, analyzing effector and host protein interactions.

I received several scholarships and awards, including the French Research Residency from the Culture and Science, Embassy of France, Ireland, and the Newton-Bhabha PhD placement Programme from the British Council, UK. I also participated in several conferences and given presentations on topics related to fungal disease resistance in sesame and sesame molecular breeding.

I have experience in teaching at the BSc and MSc degree programme levels, and I provide voluntary training and mentorship to high school students and researchers in my field. I also serve as a peer reviewer for the journal Data in Brief published by Elsevier.

Employment

• Heriot-Watt University Research Fellow (Marie Curie / UKRI Gurantee)
  2024 - Present
• University of Fribourg Post Doctoral Researcher- Swiss Government Excellence Fellow
  2023 - 2024
• University College Dublin Post doc
  2022 - 2024
• Bose Institute Reseach Fellow
  2016 - 2021
• Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Junior research fellow
  2013 - 2015
• Heriot-Watt University

Education

• Presidency University B.Sc Botany (Honours)
  2006 - 2010

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (8)

• Discovery of globally rare CYP51 mutations associated with azole resistance in Iranian Zymoseptoria tritici isolates
  BMC plant biology 2026 DOI: 10.1186/s12870-025-07936-2
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• Allelic diversity of the Zymoseptoria tritici effector Zt-11 leads to the loss of interactions with small, secreted proteins from wheat  
  Plant Stress 2026 DOI: 10.1016/j.stress.2025.101161
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• Integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics analysis highlight key pathways involved in the somatic embryogenesis of Darjeeling tea
  BMC Genomics 2024 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10119-2
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• Transcriptomic analysis of high oil-yielding cultivated white sesame and low oil-yielding wild black sesame seeds reveal differentially expressed genes for oil and seed coat colour
  The Nucleus 2022 DOI: 10.1007/s13237-022-00389-0
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• Validation of determinate (dt) gene-based DNA marker in inter-specific hybrid sesame and in-silico analysis of the predicted dt protein structures
  Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants 2022 DOI: 10.1007/s12298-022-01135-1
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• Amino acid substitution in the conserved motifs of a hypothetical R-protein in sesame imparts a significant effect on ADP binding position and hydrogen bond interaction
  Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.pmpp.2020.101588
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• Inter-specific hybrid sesame with high lignan content in oil reveals increased expression of sesamin synthase gene
  Nucleus (India) 2021 DOI: 10.1007/s13237-021-00354-3
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• Transcriptomic dataset of cultivated (Sesamum indicum), wild (S. mulayanum), and interspecific hybrid sesame in response to induced Macrophomina phaseolina infection
  Data in Brief 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2020.106448
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