Sandeep Marla, PhD

Research Assistant Professor

3007 Throckmorton PSC
1712 Claflin St
Manhattan, KS 66506

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Biography

Sandeep Marla is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University. He received his B.S. in Agriculture from Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (India), M.S. from Auburn University, and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Purdue University. Dr. Marla’s research mission is to apply interdisciplinary approaches (genetics, genomics, and biotechnology) to connect molecular trait discovery to real-world crop improvement.

Dr. Marla's sorghum trait discovery program focuses on understanding the genetic and molecular basis of biotic (chinch bugs, aphids, and anthracnose) and abiotic (drought and chilling) stress tolerance, and yield stability in sorghum and millet. Leveraging the sorghum pangenome, his program utilizes GWAS, population genomics, haplotype-based analyses, and CRISPR-Cas gene-editing to move beyond QTL mapping toward causal inference to accelerate trait delivery to sorghum growers.