Srinagar: Dr Riffat John, Senior Assistant Professor at the Department of Botany University of Kashmir has been awarded the prestigious SERB-POWER Fellowship by the Government of India to support her innovative work on understanding cold tolerance maize plants.

SERB-POWER Fellowship is granted by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, to outstanding women researchers and innovators working in Indian academic institutions and R&D laboratories. The three-year fellowship will support Dr Riffat in her work on the proteomic investigation of cold tolerance mechanism in maize.

Dr Riffat’s group aims to use proteomics complemented with Genome Editing technology for developing stress resilient crops. This research area provides a new approach to address the emerging challenges of climate change for sustaining agriculture.

Dr Riffat John, PhD from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has been also conferred the Young Scientists Award by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of Jammu and Kashmir in 2015. She also received the Indo-Us Fellowship for Genome Editing by Indo-US Science and Technology Forum in 2018. She is also an alumnus of Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS).

The SERB– POWER (Science & Engineering Research Board—Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research) programme is formulated to mitigate gender disparity in science and engineering research funding in various S&T programs in Indian academic institutions and R&D laboratories, through the award of grants or fellowships.

Reader correspondent