Moumita Srivastava: The Plant Cell First Author

Moumita Srivastava, co-first author of “The conjugation of SUMO to the transcription factor MYC2 functions in blue light-mediated seedling development in Arabidopsis”

Current Position:   Protein Scientist, Iksuda Therapeutics, Newcastle, UK

Education:  PhD; Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India

Non-scientific Interests: Reading novels, cooking, travelling

Brief bio: Since, my PhD in the lab of Prof. Sudip Chattopadhyay, I was fascinated to know and understand the role of light in plant growth and development. During my PhD I have investigated the role of blue light in seedling development of Arabidopsis. The intriguing fact that protein once synthesised, gets modified through post- translation modifications, fascinated me and I chose to work on SUMOylation for my postdoctoral research at Durham University with Prof. Ari Sadanandom. Prof. Sadanandom’s lab is interested in understanding the potential of SUMOylation and its machinery in making our crop plants more resilient. During the research, I extensively enjoyed the Durham bio-imaging facilities to analyse the effects of post- translational modification in live cells.