Staff profile

I am currently a PhD student in the group of Dr Steve Chivasa. I completed my first degree in Biotechnology at the University of Mumbai (India) and then moved to the UK for post-graduate studies. I joined Durham University to pursue a Master of Science degree in Plant Biotechnology and Enterprise. During the MSc, I worked under the supervision of Dr Chivasa on a project focusing on identifying extracellular signals regulating cyanobacterial responses to xenobiotic stress. After completion of the MSc, I continued in Dr Chivasa’s lab as a PhD student, working on an industrially funded project in which we are developing a technology to combat pesticide resistance in agriculture for food security. The ambitious aim of the project is to create a technology that is effective across diverse resistance mechanisms in weeds. This requires an in-depth understanding of how these pesticides work. We are using Transcriptomics, Proteomics, and Metabolomics as key tools to understand the underpinning mechanisms, and a combination of genetic and pharmacological approaches for hypothesis testing. The application of the results to agriculture is exciting and aligns with me passionate desire to make a contribution to global food security.