Sanjay SWARUP
Sanjay SWARUPAssociate Professor
[email protected]

Affiliations

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences NUS
Principal Investigator, NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI)
Director, NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI)
Director, Graduate Program & Deputy Director, Environmental Engineering Cluster | Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) | Nanyang Technological University

Biography

I am an agriculture and environmental biologist. Programs in my laboratory are shaped by my training in field-based themes of plant breeding and plant pathology combined with lab-based training in molecular biology. Through these programs, we have built the capability to understand complex environmental systems and provide meaningful solutions that can be translated.
I have co-authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications in journals of international repute. I have been invited to share our research findings at leading international conferences. My h-index is 25 and our work has received attention from local/regional and international scientific community. I serve on several editorial boards and professional societies. I contribute actively towards pushing the frontiers in the field and organize focus group workshops, sharing sessions and other events for young researchers. I am a consultant for several multi-national companies working in agri-tech space.
I am the principal investigator for a multi-disciplinary project on improving crop production for green leafy vegetables supported by Competitive Research Programme under National Research Foundation. Apart from this, I have received support from other funding agencies for evaluating microbiome potential for alternate protein sources as well developing smart farming solutions for nutritious, high-quality crops

Professional Appointments

Director, 2022 – present, NUS Environmental Research Institute, NUS, Singapore
Director, Graduate Program & Deputy Director, – present, SCELSE, NTU, Singapore
Associate Professor: 2004-present, National University of Singapore
Assistant Professor: 1998-2004, National University of Singapore
Senior Lecturer: 1997-1998, National University of Singapore
Lecturer: 1994-97, National University of Singapore
Postdoctoral Fellow: 1991-94, Waksman Institute, Rutgers University, USA

Education

Ph.D. 1991 Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Plant Pathology.
Ph.D. 1990 Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, INDIA. Genetics
M.Sc. 1985 Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, INDIA. Genetics
B.Sc. (Ag.) Hons. 1983 Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, INDIA

Research Interest

Environmental Microbiology – urban waterways, soils, peatlands, mangroves
Phytobiomes
Synthetic microbial communities for plant health and resilience
Biofilms
Urban farming

Selected Publications

    1. Low, J. M., Gupta, A., Toh, R., Lim, S. L., Chan, S.-Y., Swarup, S., & Lee, L. Y. (2025). Vertical Transmission of Gut Dysbiosis From Mothers With Gestational Diabetes to Infants. Journal of Diabetes, 17(10), e70148.
    2. Mukherjee, A., Mazumder, M., Verma, A., Tikariha, H., Bhattacharya, R., Ooi, Q. E., & Swarup, S. (2025). A bacterial signal coordinates plant-microbe fitness trade-off to enhance sulfur deficiency tolerance in plants. Cell Host & Microbe. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2025.09.007.
    3. Ismail, M. S., Sulistijorini, S., Muttaqin, M., al Anshori, Z., Rizaldi, M. R., Wijedasa, L., Moore, J., Agusti, R., Swarup, S., & Triadiati, T. (2025). Elemental Stoichiometry of Tropical Peatland Trees: Implications for Adaptation and Carbon Sequestration. Forests, 16(9), 1379.
    4. Chandran, S., Loganathachetti, D. S., Sadaiappan, B., Swarup, S., & Mundra, S. (2025). Irrigation water and soil chemistry shape fungal guilds in date palm soils, enhancing pathotroph abundance under saline groundwater irrigation. Current Research in Microbial Sciences, 8.
    5. Mukherjee, A., Han, L., Mukhopadhyay, S., Kopriva, S., & Swarup, S. (2025). Sulfur traits in the plant microbiome: implications for sustainable agriculture. In Trends in Microbiology (Vol. 33, Issue 6, pp. 635–649). Elsevier Ltd.
    6. Roy, K., Sim, D., Wang, L., Zhang, Z., Guo, X., Zhu, Y., Swarup, S., & Lee, C. (2025). A Generative AI-Assisted Piezo-MEMS Ultrasound Device for Plant Dehydration Monitoring. Advanced Science.
    7. Swarup, S., Gupta, A., Chung, M., Radhakrishnan, V., Davis, V., Lynch, M. D. J., Charles, T. C., Cheng, J., & Mendoza, G. (2025). Rapid shift of gut microbiome and enrichment of beneficial microbes during arhatic yoga meditation retreat in a single-arm pilot study. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, 25(1).

* Corresponding author; # Co-first author