Dr. Poonam Jasrotia is a Senior Scientist at Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research Institute, Karnal, India. She is also Adjunct Faculty at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India, since 2017. She earned her Ph.D. in Entomology discipline from the CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur, India (2004). She was awarded with University Gold Medal during her Ph.D and M.Sc studies.
Her current research work mainly focuses on exploring the mechanism and basis of aphid resistance in wheat and barley crops and to identify the novel sources of aphid resistance that can be used by crop breeders in varietal developmental program. Besides, she is also associated with research project related to development of polymer-enhanced botanical alternatives to synthetic chemicals for management of stored grain pests of wheat. Her past research projects were dominantly related to studying insect behavior specifically, thrips, mealybugs and aphids to develop strategies that limit damage to agricultural crops and provide ecosystem services. She has experience of working in diverse and challenging environments as in Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Volcani Center of Israel, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at Michigan State University, MI, USA. She did climate-change related research while working as Sustainability Research Co-ordinator for Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, MSU, USA, where she did research on insect biodiversity, biogeochemistry, greenhouse gas emissions and water balance in the potential biofuel crops. During her post-doctoral studies at Volcani Centre, Israel, she worked on insect communication system in mealy bugs and earwigs. She was also a part of a nationwide project of thrips "Temporal and Spatial distribution of thrips in Israel" and developed a new immuno-marking technique for following their movement. She studied epidemiology of tomato spotted wilt virus which is transmitted through thrips in North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA. She has published her research work in high impact journals like PNAS, Global Change Biology-Bioenergy, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment etc.
Research areas: insect ecology, insect-pest management, host plant resistance, climate change, crop protection, sustainability