A PhD scholar from the University of Hyderabad has been selected for the prestigious EMBO Scientific Exchange Grants.

The scholar identified as Koyel Bardhan researching the plant growth-promoting ability of a novel bacterial isolate for which she is trying to learn its mechanistic aspects of growth promotion and interaction with the host plant tomato. As part of the program, she will visit Dr Ville Friman’s laboratory at the University of York, UK.

Dr Friman’s group aims to understand the ecology and evolution of pathogen-microbe interactions and the proximate molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying these interactions.

This basic understanding is crucial for developing biocontrol and plant growth-promotion applications in agriculture. The opportunity will help the scholar enhance her skill sets required to investigate the molecular mechanisms behind plant-microbe interactions. The proposed objectives are part of her PhD thesis, which will be submitted to the University of Hyderabad.