Dr. Sumitha Thushar

Dr. Sumitha Thushar joined ICBA in September 2020 as Post-Doctoral Fellow - Plant Genetic Resources Scientist. She had previously worked with ICBA as a research intern and later as a research consultant for two and a half years. During this period, she worked for ICBA’s multidisciplinary projects in collaboration with the Max Plank Institute, Germany; the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Tottori University, Japan; CIMMYT; the University of Barcelona, Spain; and local partners in the UAE.

Her roles involved supporting extensive field trials on the evaluation of the level of genetic variation among internationally derived cereal genotypes for salinity tolerance; molecular studies related to halophytic crop salinity tolerance; data collection; and statistical analysis, among other things. She also assisted in ICBA’s genebank activities related to the conservation of germplasm and production of seed.

She is well-versed in field experiments and agronomic trait evaluations, plant DNA barcoding, molecular profiling; biochemical, anti-tumor, and radioprotective assays with animal models.

She holds a Ph.D. in Botany (2017) from the University of Calicut, India, and has second-rank master’s and first-rank bachelor’s degrees from the same university.

She has published in peer-reviewed journals and participated in various conferences, seminars and training courses.