Sonia Balyan
Also known as: Sonia Chhillar Balyan
Regional Centre for Biotechnology, University of Delhi Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Delhi, National Institute of Plant Genome Research
0000-0003-2136-4519
About
Dr. Sonia Balyan is a Scientist at the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC), Regional Centre for Biotechnology, with extensive experience in plant molecular biology, functional genomics, and bioinformatics. Her work lies at the intersection of multi-omics data integration, genome annotation, and the development of FAIR-compliant biological data infrastructures. She is the lead scientist behind the Indian Crop Phenome Database (ICPD), facilitating open, reusable, and standardized datasets for accelerating agricultural and life science research.
Dr. Balyan earned her Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from the University of Delhi and holds an M.Sc. in Biochemistry from CCS Haryana Agricultural University. Her research has focused on deciphering the molecular basis of abiotic stress tolerance in crops, using transcriptomics, epigenomics, and degradomics. She is proficient in leveraging advanced sequencing platforms and analytical pipelines for systems biology, data visualization, and large-scale data curation.
Internationally engaged, she serves on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Biocuration. Dr. Balyan is a strong advocate for open science, data interoperability, and AI-readiness in life science datasets.
In addition to her research, she is the creator and host of Beyond Shodh, a science communication podcast that features in-depth conversations with leading scientists and innovators in STEM, inspiring the next generation of researchers.
Her long-term vision is to advance global data-sharing ecosystems and contribute to high-impact, interdisciplinary science addressing agricultural resilience and sustainability.
Employment
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Regional Centre for Biotechnology Scientist2022 - Present
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University of Delhi Department of Plant Molecular Biology Scientist II2021 - 2022
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National Institute of Plant Genome Research Research Associate2019 - 2021
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National Institute for Plant Genome Research Research Associate III2016 - 2018
Education
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University of Delhi Department of Plant Molecular Biology Ph.D2010 - 2015
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University of Delhi M.Phil2008 - 2009
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Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University M.Sc.2006 - 2008
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University of Delhi Maitreyi college B.Sc.2003 - 2006
Projects & Funding
Projects & funding information is unavailable.
Publications (19)
- Adoption of Standard Reference SNP Identifiers in Agricultural Genomics for Interoperability and Data Reuse Save
- Delineating the tissue-mediated drought stress governed tuning of conserved miR408 and its targets in rice Save
- Monocot-specific <italic>miR528</italic> act as the post-transcriptional regulator of strigolactone signaling via<italic> Dwarf 3</italic> in rice Save
- PlotS: web-based application for data visualization and analysis Save
- Understanding the evolution of miRNA biogenesis machinery in plants with special focus on rice Save
- Cultivar-biased regulation of HSFA7 and HSFB4a govern high-temperature tolerance in tomato Save
- Delineating the Tissue-Mediated Drought Stress Governed Tuning of Conserved miR408 and Its Targets in Rice Save
- Inferring the regulatory network of the miRNA-mediated response to individual and combined heat and drought stress in tomato Save
- Investigation into the miRNA/5' isomiRNAs function and drought-mediated miRNA processing in rice Save
- Novel insights into expansion and functional diversification of MIR169 family in tomato Save