Verma was primarily known for his contributions to the development of "universal primer technology", a first generation DNA barcoding method, that can identify any bird, fish, reptile or mammal from a small biological sample, and satisfy legal evidence requirements in a court of law.

[2] Verma started his research career at G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, where he worked on the DNA fingerprinting of Indian scented basmati rice for identification of duplicate accessions.

[4] Along with his team, Verma's research in the area of wildlife conservation[15] led to the reclassification of the pygmy hog, an endangered endemic species, from Sus salvanius to Porcula salvania[16][17] In 2015 Verma claimed that the malaria treatment drug artemisinin (initially extracted from Artemisia annua, later synthesized), the discovery of which earned Chinese scientist Tu Youyou the Lasker Award in 2011 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015, has roots in older traditional medicine from India under the name artemisin, associated with a related Indian plant species (Hindi: Ajwain) and previously identified as fever-treating.

[19] In March 2001, Verma and Lalji Singh claimed to have invented a method that they called "universal primer technology", which allowed the identification of any unknown biological sample and its assignment to a known species source.

[7][8][20] Through its ability to work across a large range of animal species, universal primer technology can identify any bird, fish, reptile or mammal and satisfy legal evidence requirements in a court of law.

[21] Universal primer technology was also used by Therion International, an independent animal testing lab in New York, to uncover the noted seafood scandal in Florida and other parts of America.

However, Hebert argued that he was not aware of UPT because its patents were not visible to the broader scientific community due to a substantial interval from its filing in 2001 to grant in 2006.