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Dr. Ishka is a plant molecular biologist who is trained and passionate about understanding how plants perceive and respond to developmental and environmental cues to adjust their growth and development.

Dr. Ishka earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in Plant Science from Urmia and Tarbiat Modares University, respectively, in Iran. During her master's degree, Dr. Ishka investigated the impacts of heavy metals on the antioxidant capacity of the tea plant through cell and hydroponic culture. She then served as a lecturer in several private and national universities before coming to the United States. She joined Dr. Jeff Harper's lab at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) as a research assistant, followed by entering graduate school at UNR, where she received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, investigated calcium signaling in pollen development in the model plant Arabidopsis. After graduation, she joined Dr. Olena Vatamaniuk's Lab at Cornell University as a postdoctoral scholar, where she established the role of micronutrient copper in plant growth and development in Arabidopsis and the model grass, Brachypodium. She then moved on to work with Dr. Magda Julkowska at Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) to challenge her developmental skills by working on the belowground part of the plants; ROOT, where she identified genes critical for the maintenance of root development under salt stress in Arabidopsis and tomato. Dr. Ishka joined the faculty team at Å·²©ÍøÖ· in the Department of Biological Sciences in 2025. Her research focus is on decoding the genetic elements of plant growth and development across all developmental scales in response to internal and external cues. The overarching objective of Dr. Ishka’s research is to understand, identify, and translate the genetic mechanisms of plants' plasticity.