Prof. Sanjay is the principal investigator of the AESB research group and currently serves as an Associate Professor under the Department of Biological Sciences at NUS. With a background in agriculture and environmental biology, he has co-authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications in journals of international repute and has an h-index of 25. His work has received attention from the local and international scientific community and his research findings have been shared at invited leading international conferences. He serves on several editorial boards and consults for various multinational companies in the agri-tech space. He contributes actively towards pushing the frontiers in the field and organizing focus group workshops, sharing sessions and other events for young researchers.
His main research area is in environmental sustainability using integrated science to develop practical solutions for policy decisions. Understanding interactions between rhizosphere microorganisms and plant growth is the main focus of his research projects.
Programs in his laboratory are shaped by his training in field-based themes of plant breeding and plant pathology combined with lab-based training in molecular biology. Through these programs, he has built the capability to understand complex environmental systems and provide meaningful solutions that can be translated.
He leads multidisciplinary research themes in the space of sustainable urban farming and in generating revegetation science and policy decisions in tropical peatlands management. His projects are supported by both governmental agencies and industry partners. His lab, AESB, integrates eco-friendly and cost-effective solutions by utilizing synergy between plant traits, their associated microbiomes and physico-chemical traits.
Special emphasis is placed on innovative agri-inputs, reducing energy and environmental footprints while increasing circularity, yield and climate resistance. With the results of the research, AESB has a spin-off company, Cornucopia, which was set-up to develop and market nature-based microbial solutions for improving plant health and yields. AESB also discovered a novel and ancient trans-kingdom volatile chemical signal from plants that induces the formation of beneficial biofilms in sols that in turn increase plant growth.
Prof. Sanjay is working on the second phase of his peatlands program to further develop science-based solutions for peatlands restoration by addressing subsidence from inlands and saline intrusion from sea level rise to study compounded issues in ecological transitions stemming from inland-coastal-sea transects.
The second phase will include social and ecological benefits to the local communities in close cooperation with AESB’s research counterparts in Indonesia. His team will further its research work on the rhizosphere microbiome by understanding the chemical nature of microbial signals that will provide a loss- or gain- of function and elucidate the biosynthetic and regulatory genetic pathways of these bacterial signaling molecules. AESB will explore green chemical production by promoting growth and yield of plants that produce selected chemicals with its industry partner, L’Oreal.
The extraordinary grants and research funding awarded to Prof. Sanjay, AESB Research group.
Novel integrated agro-technologies, plant nutrients and microbes for improved production of green leafy vegetables in SG.
Understanding insects-microbes-plant interactions in urban farming.
Under-utilized potential of microbiomes in soil and gut for sustainable urban agriculture.
Integrated Tropical Peatland Research Programme
The Rhizosphere Carbon Project (until 31 March 2024)
Developing tailored solutions based on multi-trophic interactions for pest management in urban farmed crops
Delivery of nature-identical antifungal crop protectants for indoor urban farming in Singapore
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