BIO

Hi, I'm Joydeep! I'm a postdoctoral fellow at the Sessa Lab. I was born and raised in India and developed a love for botany at an early stage in my academic journey, which led me to study it at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

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I received my Ph.D. from J.C. Bose Institute in Kolkata, India, where I delved into the defense responses of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) against Fusarium oxysporum infection. I uncovered the molecular interaction between MAPKs and WRKY transcription factors that trigger defense signaling in chickpeas when challenged by the pathogen. I also explored the role of a specific chickpea protein in the hypersensitive response, examining its intramolecular interaction, subcellular compartmentalization, and self-association properties.

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I joined the Sessa Lab in 2021 as a postdoctoral researcher and I am now investigating the regulation of innate immune signaling pathways in tomato by PP2C class phosphatases. This work involves measuring protein-protein interactions between PP2Cs and other immune signaling components and characterizing CRISPR-Cas9 generated tomato mutants for candidate PP2C genes to test their resistance against bacterial and fungal pathogens.