Postdoctoral Research Associate · Plant Systems Biology

How do trees and crops withstand combined abiotic stresses?

Plant Systems Biology · Biosciences Division · Oak Ridge National Laboratory · Tennessee, USA

I investigate how trees and crops respond to interacting abiotic stresses, including heat, drought, salinity, waterlogging, and their combinations. My research integrates high-throughput imaging, plant physiology, stress biomarkers, population genomics, GWAS, and multi-omics to identify resilience traits and mechanisms.

At Oak Ridge National Laboratory I work in Plant Systems Biology and use the Advanced Plant Phenotyping Laboratory for high-throughput phenotyping.

Explore My Research Google Scholar Profile
Portrait of Dr. Md. Mezanur Rahman
About Me

Linking phenotype, genetics, and molecular mechanisms under combined stress.

I am a plant scientist and Postdoctoral Research Associate in Plant Systems Biology, Biosciences Division, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. My research investigates how trees and crops respond to combined abiotic stresses, including heat, drought, salinity, waterlogging, and their combinations.

I combine imaging-based phenotypes with physiological, genetic, and molecular data, so that visible traits can be interpreted biologically rather than only measured.

My current work centres on Populus. My crop research spans soybean, cotton, sorghum, maize, wheat, barley, rice, and chilli. Across both, I aim to identify biologically meaningful and agriculturally useful resilience traits.

Professional Profile

  • Current Position Postdoctoral Research Associate
  • Research Group Plant Systems Biology
  • Organisation Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • Research Focus Combined abiotic stress biology and climate resilience
  • Location Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
  • Email mrahman [at] gau.edu.bd
Research Profile

Research impact at a glance

82

Journal articles (ORCID record)

12

First-author papers

3,234

Citations, OpenAlex (13 Oct 2026)

31

h-index, OpenAlex (13 Oct 2026)

Citations and h-index are read live from OpenAlex each time this page loads; the figures shown are the last values I recorded if the service cannot be reached. OpenAlex matches authors automatically, so its numbers differ from Google Scholar, where my figures were 2,465 citations, h-index 27, and i10-index 53 in July 2025. See my Google Scholar profile for current figures. Article and first-author counts are from my ORCID record and CV (October 2026).

Updates

News and updates

Recent appointments, milestones and publications, newest first. Dates are taken from my CV and ORCID record; where only the year is given, the month is not recorded there. Deadlines for calls for papers are those on the publishers' pages.

  1. Open call
    Call for papers

    I am guest editor or topic editor of three collections that are open for submissions: Plant Response to Drought and Combined with Other Abiotic Stresses (Plant Stress, deadline 1 April 2027); Root and Shoot Developmental Plasticity in Response to Stress (Frontiers in Plant Science, deadline 25 March 2027); and Plant Epigenetic Memory Under Abiotic Stress (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, deadline 31 March 2027). Details are under Experience and editorial roles.

  2. Publication

    Published as last author: Epigenome Editing for Cannabinoid Yield: Targets, Tools, and Priorities in Cannabis sativa, International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

  3. Publication

    Published as co-author: Advancing chloroplast bioengineering: Innovations, regulatory challenges, and translational pathways for sustainable agriculture, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules.

  4. Position

    Joined the Plant Systems Biology Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, working on plant–microbe interactions, multi-omics, and stress physiology.

  5. Milestone

    Completed my PhD in Plant and Soil Science at Texas Tech University (CGPA 4.00), with a thesis on chemical and genetic strategies to improve soybean growth and yield under drought.

Older news
  1. Publication

    Published as last and corresponding author: Genotypic control of root sodium uptake drives ion imbalance and stress sensitivity under salinity and waterlogging, Plant Science.

  2. Publication

    Published as first and corresponding author: Past trauma, better future: how stress memory shapes plant adaptation to drought, Functional Plant Biology.

  3. 2024–25
    Award

    Awarded the Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship by Texas Tech University.

  4. 2023–24
    Award

    Awarded the Graduate Student Research Support Award and the LeRoy & Claire “Sally” Olsak Endowed Scholarship by Texas Tech University.

The full list is under Publications.

Research Expertise

Research areas

My research examines plant performance under multiple interacting environmental stresses and links visible phenotypic traits with physiological, genetic, and molecular mechanisms.

  1. ImageRGB, chlorophyll fluorescence, thermal, and VNIR/SWIR imaging
  2. MeasureGas exchange, water status, stress biomarkers, ions
  3. AssociateClimate of origin, population genomics, and GWAS
  4. ExplainTranscriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics
  5. ValidateGreenhouse and field trials

Conceptual workflow for the phenotyping-to-mechanism work; the research areas below give the detail.

01

Combined Abiotic Stress Physiology

Plant responses to drought, heat, salinity, waterlogging, and their combinations, including growth, photosynthesis, water relations, oxidative stress, and recovery.

02

High-Throughput Plant Phenotyping

Non-destructive plant characterisation using RGB, chlorophyll fluorescence, thermal, and hyperspectral imaging across VNIR and SWIR wavelengths.

03

Stress Biomarkers and Physiology

Gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, plant water status, oxidative-stress indicators, hormone responses, and ion balance.

04

Population Genomics and GWAS

Population genetics and genome-wide association studies to connect natural genetic variation with stress-response traits and candidate genes, including associations between genotype tolerance and climate of origin.

05

Multi-Omics Integration

Integration of transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, genomics, physiology, and phenomics to understand resilience mechanisms under stress.

06

Field Validation

Validation of important traits and stress-response mechanisms under field conditions, to improve agricultural relevance and climate resilience.

07

Signalling Molecules and Stress Priming

Roles of phytohormones and signalling molecules, including salicylic and jasmonic acids, strigolactones, melatonin, glutathione, acetic acid, and ethanol, in tolerance to drought, heat, salinity, waterlogging, and metal toxicity.

08

Plant–Microbe Interactions

Effects of Bacillus spp. and Bradyrhizobium japonicum on soybean root architecture and nodulation under drought and heat, and the role of the microbiome in stress adaptation.

Current Research

Current research projects

Ongoing Research

Combined Abiotic Stress Responses in Populus

An ongoing study of Populus trichocarpa genotypes collected across the USA and Canada. It combines heat–drought experiments, high-throughput phenotyping, root system architecture, physiology, and biochemistry with population genetics, GWAS, and multi-omics, with the plant microbiome included in the design.

Ongoing Research

Phenotyping for Stress-Resilience Traits

Developing non-destructive imaging readouts that track how plant responses to stress change over time, and testing them against physiological measurements.

Ongoing Research

Genetic and Molecular Bases of Climate Resilience

Linking phenotypic variation to its genetic and molecular basis to identify the mechanisms of resilience.

Grant-supported projects at Texas Tech University

Projects for which I helped to prepare the proposals and carried out the research (amounts as listed in my CV).

  • Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria as a biofertiliser for soybean root traits and yield under drought United Soybean Board, USA · US$106,671
  • Combining chemical and genetic strategies to improve soybean growth and yield under drought United Soybean Board, USA · two awards, US$112,000 and US$100,000
  • Zinc oxide nanoparticles to improve cotton growth and yield under drought Cotton Incorporated, USA · US$22,000
Scientific Insights

Questions guiding my research

Insight 01

Combined stresses are not simply additive

Plant responses to drought plus heat, salinity plus waterlogging, or other combinations cannot always be predicted from individual stress responses.

Mittler R. (2006) Trends in Plant Science 11: 15–19. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2005.11.002

Insight 02

Stress responses are dynamic

Repeated phenotyping and physiological measurement make it possible to distinguish stress onset, acclimation, injury, recovery, and resilience over time.

Insight 03

Phenotyping requires biological interpretation

Imaging provides scalable trait data, while physiological and biochemical measurements show what those traits mean biologically.

Research Notes

Notes on plant stress physiology

Short, dated notes on questions of method and interpretation in plant stress research. They are working ideas and arguments, not peer-reviewed results, and each says what would test it.

Loading notes…

All research notes →

Publications

Journal articles

82 journal articles from my ORCID record, newest first. My name is in bold. First-author papers (12) and corresponding or co-corresponding author papers (8) are tagged; the full record is also on Google Scholar and ORCID.

2026 (6)

2025 (13)

2024 (14)

2023 (8)

2022 (7)

2021 (10)

2020 (3)

2019 (7)

2018 (3)

Land use functions assessment for sustainable land management: a case study in Barind tract of Bangladesh

Miah MG, Rahman MM, Rahman MA, Abdullah HM

Annals of Bangladesh Agriculture · 2018

2017 (1)

2016 (7)

Impacts of climate variability on major food crops in selected agro-ecosystems of Bangladesh

Miah MG, Rahman MA, Rahman MM, Saha SR

Annals of Bangladesh Agriculture · 2016

Species diversity and productivity at different microsite of homestead in the terrace ecosystem of Bangladesh

Anjum M, Rahman MA, Parvin S, Afrad MSI, Rahman MM

Annals of Bangladesh Agriculture · 2016

Last author

2015 (3)

Contribution of boron doses on growth and yield of different broccoli genotypes

Islam M, Hoque MA, Reza MM, Rahman MM

International Journal of Sustainable Crop Production · 2015

Last author

Monitoring natural sal forest cover in Modhupur, Bangladesh using temporal Landsat imagery during 1972 – 2015

Abdullah HM, Mahboob MG, Rahman MM, Ahamed T

International Journal of Environment · 2015

Book chapters and preprint

View all publications on Google Scholar → ORCID record →
Professional Experience

Research and academic appointments

November 2025 – Present

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Plant Systems Biology, Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA

Conduct an ongoing heat–drought study of a Populus trichocarpa genotype panel from across the USA and Canada. The work combines high-throughput phenotyping at the Advanced Plant Phenotyping Laboratory, physiology (gas exchange, water potential, stomatal traits), root system architecture, and biochemistry (antioxidants, osmoprotectants, stress markers) with population genetics, SNP-based GWAS, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, and metagenomics of the associated microbiome.

September 2021 – June 2025

Graduate Research Assistant

Texas Tech University, USA

Led research on how signalling molecules and phytohormones affect crop tolerance to single and combined abiotic stresses. Studied how Bacillus spp. and Bradyrhizobium japonicum shape soybean root architecture and nodulation, with reciprocal grafting to test source–sink effects on yield under drought and heat. Mentored graduate and undergraduate researchers and contributed to proposals funded by the United Soybean Board and Cotton Incorporated.

July 2015 – June 2021

Researcher

CIFOR-ICRAF, Bangladesh

Conducted research on agroforestry, tree–crop interactions, plant stress, and environmental resilience, including germplasm collection and orchard establishment. Coordinated international projects with collaborators in the USA, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

2017 – 2019

Research Collaborator

National and international research consortia

Research on climate resilience and soil–plant interactions within projects and consortia involving the National Science Foundation, the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Virginia Tech, and Kansas State University.

Editorial and professional service

  • Editorial board member, Frontiers in Plant Science
  • Editorial board member, BMC Plant Biology
  • Editorial board member, Journal of Crop Health
  • Editorial board member, Discover Plants
  • Junior editorial board member, Plant Stress (Elsevier)
  • Manuscript reviewer, including Agricultural Water Management, Agroforestry Systems, Antioxidants, BMC Plant Biology, Environmental and Experimental Botany, Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Plant Stress, Plants, PeerJ, and Scientific Reports
  • Member, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America

Guest editing: special issues and research topics

Scope, article-type requirements and any publication charges are set by each publisher; please check the linked page before submitting.

Global Collaboration Network

International research collaborations

My research collaborations extend across multiple countries through co-authored scientific publications in plant stress physiology, combined abiotic stress biology, crop resilience, plant molecular biology, genomics, high-throughput phenotyping, and sustainable agriculture.

This map represents countries associated with collaborating researchers and co-author affiliations in published scientific work. Markers show country-level locations, except the primary marker, which is placed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Current research base
Earlier research base and co-author collaboration
International co-author collaboration

Collaborator countries represented on the map

The same countries as text. Choose a country to centre the map on it and read the note on that collaboration.

    Education

    Academic background

    • PhD in Plant and Soil Science Texas Tech University, USA · 2021–2025 · CGPA: 4.00/4.00 Thesis: Combining chemical and genetic strategies for improvement of growth and yield potential of soybean under drought stress.
    • MS in Agroforestry and Environment Gazipur Agricultural University, Bangladesh · 2013–2015 · CGPA: 3.90/4.00 Thesis: Elucidation of salinity tolerance mechanisms of Acacia auriculiformis.
    • BS (Honours) in Agriculture Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh · 2008–2012 · CGPA: 3.86/4.00

    Honours and awards

    • Davis College Outstanding Graduate Student Researcher Award in Natural Science, Texas Tech University
    • Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Texas Tech University, 2024–2025
    • Graduate Student Research Support Award, Texas Tech University, 2023–2024
    • LeRoy & Claire “Sally” Olsak Endowed Scholarship, Texas Tech University, 2023–2024
    • Water Conservation Research Scholarship, Texas Tech University, 2022–2023
    • Helen DeVitt Jones Graduate Fellowship, Texas Tech University, 2021–2023
    • National Science and Technology (NST) Fellowship, Ministry of Science and Technology, Bangladesh, 2013–2015
    • Dean’s merit scholarship, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, 2008–2012
    Methods and Technical Skills

    Research capabilities

    Experimental systems

    • Combined abiotic stress experiments
    • Greenhouse and field trials

    Phenotyping and imaging

    • High-throughput plant phenotyping
    • RGB imaging
    • Chlorophyll fluorescence
    • Thermal imaging
    • VNIR / SWIR hyperspectral imaging

    Physiology and biochemistry

    • Plant physiology
    • Stress biomarker analysis
    • LI-6800 gas exchange
    • qRT-PCR
    • ICP-MS

    Genomics and omics

    • Population genomics
    • Genome-wide association studies
    • Transcriptomics
    • Metabolomics
    • Proteomics

    Data analysis

    • R statistics and visualisation
    Graduate Position Notices

    Notices of PhD and MS positions in plant science, USA

    Open graduate-student positions in plant science and related fields at US universities, taken from society job boards, university pages and lab pages. Each entry shows when it was last checked. It is a convenience list, not a complete record: always confirm funding, eligibility and the deadline on the original posting. I do not lead a research group; I share these postings from other groups for prospective students.

    Loading graduate position notices...

    How this works: the list starts with positions I have checked by hand. A daily script, when it is running, also checks selected sources, respects each site's robots.txt, and adds the link, title, a short excerpt and any deadline it finds. Many universities advertise positions only on lab pages or by email, so coverage is partial. Not affiliated with the institutions listed.

    Work with me

    Collaborate

    My work is transdisciplinary and already involves collaborators in several countries (see the collaboration map). I welcome new collaborations from plant physiologists, geneticists, breeders, microbiologists, data scientists, and engineers who share an interest in how plants cope with combined stresses.

    If you would like to work together, please send a short description of the idea, the species or system, and what each partner could contribute. Ways in which I can take part include:

    • joint experiments and field or greenhouse validation;
    • image-based phenotyping and trait analysis;
    • GWAS, population genomics and multi-omics integration;
    • co-authored reviews, perspectives and grant proposals.
    mrahman [at] gau.edu.bd

    My research areas

    Each area is described under Research, and the outputs are listed under Publications.

    Contact and Research Profiles

    Connect with me

    I welcome collaboration in combined abiotic stress biology, high-throughput phenotyping, plant physiology, population genomics, GWAS, multi-omics, and climate-resilient agriculture.

    mrahman [at] gau.edu.bd Google Scholar ORCID LinkedIn ResearchGate Download CV