معرفی
Rashmi Sasidharan is Professor of Plant Stress Resilience at Utrecht University's Institute of Environmental Biology within the Faculty of Science. She leads the Plant Stress Resilience research group which investigates how plants sense, respond to, and tolerate water stresses such as flooding and drought in the context of climate change. Her work sits at the intersection of plant biology, climate science, and food security research.
Her educational background includes a PhD from the University of Calgary (2009), an MSc from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (2003), and a BSc from Delhi University (2001). She progressed from Postdoc (2009-2010) to Assistant Professor (2010-2018) and Associate Professor (2018-2023) before achieving her current position as full Professor.
Sasidharan's research focuses on understanding plant survival strategies in response to flooding events, which are becoming increasingly frequent due to climate change. She employs a unique combination of biochemical, molecular, genomic, and computational approaches to identify molecular processes and genes associated with plant survival strategies. Her work has significant implications for developing flood-resistant crops to ensure future food security. Her research spans natural variation in plant responses, abiotic stress mechanisms, plant-environmental interactions, and responses to flooding and hypoxia.
Analysis of her most recent publications reveals a strong focus on ethylene signaling pathways in plant stress responses, with particular attention to flooding and hypoxia tolerance mechanisms. Her work increasingly examines multiple and sequential stress interactions, reflecting the complex reality of climate change impacts on plants. There's a clear trajectory toward applied research with implications for crop improvement, particularly in rice.
- NWO-VENI grant
- NWO-VIDI grant
- NWO Open Competitie grant
- TTW-OTP grant
- EU-Horizon funding
Professor Sasidharan leads her own research group at Utrecht University and has secured substantial research funding from multiple prestigious sources. She teaches the 'Plant, Development and Environment' course to biology students and the 'Food Forward' course to third-year students. Her research group is part of the Institute of Environmental Biology and contributes to Utrecht University's Pathways to Sustainability initiatives, particularly in Future Food and Water, Climate and Future Deltas.
