معرفی
Dr. Aiswarya Girija is a Strategic Research Fellow at the Institute of Biological, Environmental & Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, where she conducts cutting-edge research in plant stress biology, metabolomics, and functional grain development. Her work focuses on climate-resilient crops such as oats and tef, utilizing multi-omics approaches to enhance nutritional quality and stress tolerance.
Education:
- PhD in Plant Biotechnology, Kerala University, India
- Newton-Bhabha Fellow, IBERS, Aberystwyth University (2015)
- Post-doctoral researcher, MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, Israel
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow (SUPERTEFF project, 2020–2023)
Her research interests span metabolomics, phenomics, epigenetics, and sustainable agriculture, with a strong emphasis on orphan crops like tef and nutrient-dense cereals such as oats. She investigates stress memory, priming, and drought adaptation mechanisms using advanced molecular and analytical tools. Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to food security and sustainable agriculture.
Dr. Girija's recent publications demonstrate a strong trend in applying metabolomic and phenomic pipelines to understand drought and salinity responses in tef and oats, identifying key metabolic pathways and regulatory nodes. She also explores biofortification strategies, sourdough fermentation, and genomic approaches for crop improvement.
Scientific Awards:
- AberCollab (2024)
- Joy Welch Research Grant (2024)
She actively mentors undergraduate and master's students and welcomes PhD and postdoctoral candidates interested in plant stress, nutrition, and functional food development. Dr. Girija is involved in externally funded projects such as DeepDetect and BBSRC International Institutional Awards, and she contributes to public engagement through invited talks and media appearances on orphan crops and sustainable food systems.
Labs and Teams: She collaborates with Prof. Luis Mur, Prof. Rajiv Yadav, and others at IBERS, and is part of the Grains4Health strategic research program. She also contributes to international consortia on tef genomics and crop resilience.
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