March 18, 2015, by International students

A Newton International Fellow at Nottingham

As well as welcoming students from around the world, The University of Nottingham provides opportunities for many international academics and post-doctoral researchers. Dr Rahul Bhosale, from India, is conducting research in hydropatterning at the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) in our School of Biosciences, funded by a prestigious Newton International Fellowship.

I was born and brought up in an agrarian family in western India and thus spent my childhood leisure time in getting acquainted with traditional Indian agricultural practices. However, looking at the crop cycles and yields in different seasons, I always wondered about how the plants survived in varying climatic conditions. Such curiosity sparked my childhood aspirations to become a scientist.

Dr Rahul Bhosale

I thus chose to study biotechnology and went on to complete a masters degree in the subject from the University of Pune in India. During this time, I gained multidisciplinary training in molecular and cell biology, physics, chemistry, bioinformatics, mathematics, etc. Subsequently, I also completed a Doctorate in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB), University of Ghent, Belgium, where I studied the role of somatic polyploidy in the growth and development of the plant root under environmental conditions.

With this professional background, I have joined Prof. Malcolm Bennett at CPIB, The University of Nottingham, as a Newton International Fellow, funded by the The British Academy and the Royal Society of England. I will work towards understanding the molecular mechanism that controls root-hair hydropatterning – i.e. asymmetric root hair growth in response to moisture levels in soil and also test its importance as an adaptive response to water stress.

I am based at the Sutton Bonington Campus and have been enjoying my accommodation at the campus too. I am pretty excited about working with the multi-disciplinary scientific team at CPIB and am looking forward to exploring the land of Robin Hood over the next two years.

Newton International Fellowships are awarded to outstanding post-doctoral researchers from around the world in a broad range of science and humanities subject areas, for two-year research placements at UK universities. For further information, see the Newton International Fellowships website.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on LinkedIn