Poonam Mehra

Poonam is a Marie Curie post-doctoral fellow at School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham. Her research work focuses on studying root branching adaptations in response to heterogeneous distribution of soil moisture. She is specifically interested in uncovering molecular mechanisms underlying a novel root adaptive response termed 'Xero-branching' . Xero-branching is characterized by complete suppression of root branching in an area of low water availability in soil (e.g. air-filled gap). Her goal is to discover the mechanisms of water sensing in plant roots. She also anticipate to ultimately translate this knowledge to crop plants for improving their soil foraging capacity.