28 March 2023 - Mr Bhamare Deepak Prashant, a Ph. D. scholar of the School of Agricultural Biotechnology, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has brought laurels to the University by bagging Bayer Fellowship- MEDHA for his Doctoral Research. Bayer has awarded a Fellowship worth ₹40,000 per month to Bhamare Deepak Prashant for three years on the basis of his academic merit, Ph.D. research project, and performance in the interview.

During his Ph.D., Deepak will work on ‘Developing maize lines resistant to Banded Leaf and Sheath Blight' (BLSB) using innovative technology “Genome editing” and wild maize relatives. BLSB is a major challenge to maize growers and effective control measures are not available. The utilization of the genetic resistance is a key component for efficient disease management and there is immediate need for the development of BLSB resistant maize hybrids using wild germplasm or genome editing.

Dr Priti Sharma, Assistant Professor (Biotechnology) and Major Advisor of Mr Bhamare Deepak said that under this fellowship, mapping of BLSB resistance in teosinte derived maize population will be done. Also, BLSB resistant mutants will be generated by targeting a maize gene ZmFBL41 using CRISPR/Cas9 in the elite maize line.

Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor, PAU; Dr PK Chhuneja , Dean, Postgraduate Studies; Dr AS Dhatt, Director of Research and Dr Parveen Chhuneja, Director, School of Agricultural Biotechnology, congratulated Bhamare Deepak Prashant and his guide for this achievement and wished them success in their future endeavors.

Source:https://www.pau.edu/