Dr. Sachin Rustgi is currently affiliated as Associate Professor in Molecular Breeding with the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Clemson University, and Adjunct Associate Professor with the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at the Washington State University, Pullman. He holds a master's degree in Botany from MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, and a Ph.D. degree in Crop Biotechnology from CCS University, Meerut. Dr. Rustgi's research largely focuses on the improvement of nutritional value in the small grain cereals and legumes especially by elimination or detoxification of antinutritional elements and enhancement of health-promoting factors. In order to achieve these objectives, he has developed a multidisciplinary team of experts across different Colleges of the Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina and the Greenville Health System. His research has resulted in a number of high impact publications in internationally recognized journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, the Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant Molecular Biology, Heredity, PLoS One, and Nutrients, to name a few. In addition to it, Dr. Rustgi authored two monographic books on his research. In view of his academic contributions, he was awarded with the 2014 Faculty Excellence in Research Award of the Washington State University College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences and invited to join as a member of the Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Wheat Quality for Processing and Health and the American Society for Nutrition.

Dr. Gautam Saripalli, joined as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Sachin Rustgi’s group in September, 2023. Before joining here, he worked at University of Maryland (UMD) as a postdoc for 2 years (September 2021 to September 2023) in the area of  wheat genomics . He holds a  masters degree in Agricultural Biotechnology from Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat and PhD from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, both located in India. During his PhD, he worked  in the area of genomics for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in wheat. He published more than 20 papers in this area (https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=8uflux4AAAAJ&hl=en) during his PhD and postdoc tenure at UMD. At Dr. Rustgi’s lab, he will be focusing to work on peach genomics, and will also continue to work in wheat genomics. In peach, his work involves development of peach rootstocks resistant to Armillaria root rot (ARR) while concurrently minimizing decomposition rates and carbon cycling within the environment using molecular biology approaches. 

I am a Research Associate at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence, SC, USA. As a plant science researcher, I have over six years of experience in plant physiology, metabolomics, lipidomic, plant tissue culture, plant transformation and molecular biology. I am proficient in conceptualizing, designing, and implementing independent projects on major oil crops (soybean and peanut) under controlled (laboratory, growth chamber, greenhouse) and field conditions for studying the impact of abiotic stresses (heat and drought) on different growth stages of the plants. I have been an excellent communicator with skills proven in peer-reviewed publications and oral and poster presentations. I am a good team player and leader with futuristic views and a strong belief in disciplined work to achieve them.

Growing up in an agricultural family in northeast India and living in different places while earning professional and academic experiences have made me a global citizen. My friends and colleagues have always praised me for my friendly and easygoing nature while meeting common goals without compromising the quality of the work. 

Originally from Florence, SC, I graduated with a B.S in Biological Sciences from Clemson University in December 2017, and in May of 2022, I began my PhD in Plant and Environmental Sciences at Clemson University under the advisement of Dr. Sachin Rustgi, to decipher the genetic regulation of immunogenic protein accumulation in seeds and develop reduced immunogenic peanut and wheat lines for those with food sensitivities. Additionally, I was selected as a Clemson University Graduate Fellow in the summer of 2022. Prior to starting as a PhD student, I worked as a Research Specialist in Dr. Rustgi’s lab for two years conducting research in molecular plant breeding and fungal and insect pest management. In my free time enjoy playing golf and watching Clemson Football. 

I am Toyinbo Johnson Oluwaseyi. I had my BSc and MSc from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. I am presently a doctoral student in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Clemson University under Dr. Sachin Rustgi’s supervision.

Greetings, My name is Hrishikesh Ingole. I obtained a master's degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding from Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Akola Vidyapeeth, India. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student at Clemson University, pursuing a doctorate degree in Plant Sciences. I started working in the Molecular Plant Breeding Lab under the supervision of Dr. Sachin Rustgi, since August 2022.

Hello, my name is Gaganjeet and I belong to a small village in Punjab, India. I completed my master’s in Biotechnology from Punjab Agricultural University, India. During my master’s I worked on RNA interference technology to develop whitefly resistant genotypes. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student at Clemson University working under the guidance of Dr. Sachin Rustgi at Pee Dee Research and Education Center, Clemson. I love to play cricket, travel around the world, listen to music and stay close to nature.