It is with great sadness that we share the news that Dr. Desh Pal Singh Verma (Professor Emeritus of Molecular Genetics) died in his home on October 10th, 2025.

Dr. Verma earned a master's degree in botany from Agra University in 1964 and a Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 1970. After completing his postdoctoral research at the Fox Chase Cancer Center he joined McGill University as an assistant professor in 1974. While at McGill. he was awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship by the National Research Council of Canada, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and became a member of the Canadian Academy of Sciences in 1986. In 1988 he joined the newly-formed Department of Molecular Genetics at the Ohio State University as Professor and Associate Director of the Biotechnology Center.

Dr. Verma's research contributions included the first isolation of the first plant mRNA (encoding soybean leghemoglobin), as well as the cloning of its encoding gene. He also led the identification of a novel class of genes referred to as nodulins, which are involved in the development of Rhizobium-Legume symbiosis. Over his career, Dr. Verma trained over 150 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scientists, authored over 200 peer-reviewed research publications, and edited 11 academic books. Dr. Verma served as a senior editor for the International Society of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI), and as co-editor for its flagship journal Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. In 2003, he was elected a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).  He also served as a consultant to several international companies and was an advisor to the Planning Commission of India (now NITI Aayog) on agricultural biotechnology from 2006 to 2011.

Dr. Verma was a valued colleague with a deep interest in all scientific areas, who always asked the most rigorous and thought-provoking questions. He will be deeply missed.