Desh Pal S. Verma

Desh Verma in 2021.

Desh Pal S. Verma is a plant cell and molecular biologist and currently a Professor Emeritus at the Department of Molecular Genetics, Ohio State University. Verma graduated with Master' degree from Agra University in 1974 and completed his PhD in 1970 from University of Western Ontario Canada. Verma did postdoctoral work at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia 1970–1972 and then moved to McGill University and became an Assistant Professor in 1974.

He has been a member of several interdisciplinary graduate programs including molecular cellular and developmental biology, applied plant sciences, plant pathology, and biochemistry programs.

Career

Desh Pal S. Verma FRSC FTWAS began his career at McGill University, Canada (1974–1987) where he received National Research Council's Steacie Award given by the Governor General of Canada Edward Schreyer in 1981. He was later elected as the Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the member of the Canadian Academy of Sciences in 1986. In 1987 Verma was a Senior Editor for the International Society of Molecular Plant-microbe Interactions (IS-MPI) which later developed into the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions Journal of which he was a co-editor. In 1988 he was appointed as a Professor and Associate Director of the Biotechnology Center at the Department of Molecular Genetics at The Ohio State University. In 1996, he received a Docteur Honoris Causa from the Universite de Picardie, France. In 2003, he was inducted as a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences in Italy. During his tenure at The Ohio State University he was a member of several interdisciplinary graduate programs including molecular cellular and developmental biology, applied plant sciences, plant pathology, and biochemistry. In 2021 he became a Professor Emeritus.

Verma's work in the field of biotechnology includes isolation of the first plant mRNA, cloning the first plant gene, discovery of many new genes named as Nodulins including the one encoding Uricase based on which a similar enzyme was isolated from raspberry which is being used by a biotechnology company to make a recombinant enzyme for the treatment of hyperuricemia.

He has trained over 165 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists in his labs both in Canada and USA. He is currently engaged with a biotechnology company in USA in developing Lectins as molecular tools to identify cancer biomarkers and building glycoGPT, an AI based platform for glycobiology.

Select publications

Verma has published over 220 research papers, edited 11 books and has been an international speaker for the last 50 years. He has consulted with many international companies and advised the Planning Commission of India (currently NITI Aayog) from 2006–2011 in the area of agriculture biotechnology.

• Verma, DPS; Nash, Dudley T.; Schulman, Herbert M. (October 1974). "Isolation and in vitro translation of soybean leghaemoglobin mRNA". Nature. 251 (5470): 74–77. Bibcode:1974Natur.251...74V. doi:10.1038/251074a0. PMID 4414006.
• Baulcombe, D. and D.P.S. Verma (1978).  Preparation of a complementary DNA for leghemoglobin and direct demonstration that leghemoglobin is encoded by the soybean genome.  Nucl. Acids Res. 5: 4141-4153.
• Verma, DPS; Legocki, Roman P. (June 1980). "Identification of "nodule-specific" host proteins (nodulins) involved in the development of Rhizobium-Legume symbiosis". Cell. 20 (1).
• Verma, DPS; Bergmann, H; Preddie, E (February 1983). "Nodulin-35: A subunit of specific uricase (uricase II) induced and localized in the uninfected cells of soybean nodules". EMBO Journal. 2 (12): 2333–2339. doi:10.1002/j.1460-2075.1983.tb01743.x. PMC 555454. PMID 16453488.
• Hu, Chien-An Andy; Delauney, Ashton; Verma, DPS (October 1992). "A Bifunctional Enzyme (Delta^1Pyrroline5Carboxylate Synthetase) Catalyzes the First Two Steps in Proline Biosynthesis in Plants". PNAS. 89 (19): 9354–9358. Bibcode:1992PNAS...89.9354H. doi:10.1073/pnas.89.19.9354. PMC 50125. PMID 1384052.