About
I am a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida, advised by Dr. Jeff Jones and Dr. Gary Vallad. Originally from Nepal, I joined UF in 2020 to pursue a master's degree in plant pathology. After completing my master's, I continued my research as a Ph.D. student, focusing on plant pathogenic bacteria and strategies to enhance plant resistance against them.
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Education
PhD, Plant Pathology, University of Florida,2022-present
MS, Plant Pathology,University of Florida,2020-2021
Bsc. Agriculture, Tribhuvan University, 2017 -
Research
My research centers on Xanthomonas perforans, the bacterial pathogen responsible for bacterial spot of tomato. I aim to understand conserved Type III secretion effectors, their role in bacterial fitness, and how this knowledge can be leveraged to identify plant defense genes (R genes). Additionally, I am using CRISPR-Cas9 to edit previously identified resistance genes (bs6 and bs8) to enhance tomato resistance against bacterial spot.
During my master’s program, I worked on bacterial spot management in pepper, exploring the use of nanomaterials as a control strategy and characterizing the pathogen strains responsible for the disease. - Publications