Rekha Agrawal: Plant Physiology First Author

Rekha Agrawal, co-first author of “MEDIATOR SUBUNIT17 integrates jasmonate and auxin signaling pathways to regulate thermomorphogenesis”

Current Position: PhD student, National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi, India.

Education: Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Botany, Jiwaji University, Gwalior, India.

Non-scientific Interests: Travelling, Poetry Writing, Adventure Activities, Trekking, and Playing Badminton.

Brief bio:

I am fortunate to join Dr. Jitendra K. Thakur’s laboratory at NIPGR, New Delhi, where I am pursuing my Ph.D. During this wonderful PhD journey, I mainly worked on understanding the role of the Mediator complex in different aspects of plant development and their responses to abiotic stress. The main focus of my Ph.D. is to elucidate the mechanism of Mediator function during root growth and development and warm temperature response. Besides my Ph.D. projects, I have  always been very interested in understanding the molecular mechanism of chromatin reorganization in response to environmental stimuli and the involvement of Mediator in it. My broad research interests include photobiology, phytohormone signaling and epigenetic regulation during plant growth and stress adaptation. My core strengths include molecular and cell biology, genetics, epigenetics and developmental biology.