Urooj Fatima
Dr. Urooj Fatima, a postdoctoral fellow at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, specializes in plant-pathogen interactions, particularly focusing on nonhost resistance (NHR) mechanisms in cereal crops and model plant species. During her doctoral research, she explored NHR strategies in Arabidopsis by regulating nutrient availability to bacterial pathogens through SWEET transporters, with a specific focus on AtSWEET11 and AtSWEET12 sugar transporters. Additionally, she studied NHR-related mechanisms in chickpea against Alternaria brassicae, contributing to the development of Alternaria-resistant Brassica crops. Currently, her post-doctoral work focuses on understanding the role of L-type lectin receptor-like kinases (LecRKs), such as Hv-LecRK (Rphq2) and Hb-LecRK (Rph22) from barley, in conferring nonhost resistance to a broad range of leaf rust pathogens in wheat and barley. Through innovative approaches and interdisciplinary collaboration, Urooj aims to unravel novel insights into nonhost resistance mechanisms and leverage this knowledge to develop disease-resistant crop varieties, contributing to global food security efforts.
Abstracts this author is presenting: