Bandana Bhusal: Plant Direct First Author

Bandana Bhusal, first author of “Efficient Fluorescence-Based Localization Technique for Real-Time Tracking Endophytes Route in Host-Plants Colonization”

Current Position: PhD in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at Iowa State University

Education: Master’s in Plant Science from Tennessee State University

Non-scientific Interests: Travelling, Swimming, Baking, Reading books and Listening to music

Brief bio:

I completed my undergraduate studies from Nepal (motherland) in Agricultural Sciences. Because of my strong desire to pursue higher studies, I joined Tennessee State University (TSU), USA, for master’s in plant science. During my masters’ program at TSU, I worked with Dr. Margaret Mmbaga and Dr. Christine Ondzighi Assoume. The journey of my masters’ program was beautiful as I got a chance to work with interesting people who helped me to harness my knowledge. My faculty advisor and mentor introduced me to the fastidious and collaborative nature of their work. Under their guidance, I started my research on biological control of Phytophthora capsici at both applied and molecular level. To understand the nature of biological control agents (BCAs), we designed a technique for tracking BCAs in host-plants colonization. I hope that the work we produced in our lab will help people working in controlling plant pathogens using BCAs. We are pleased that our work is published in a prestigious journal like Plant Direct.