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Naeela is currently in the final year of her PhD at the Plant Breeding Institute (PBI), University of Sydney under the supervision of Drs. Urmil Bansal and Harbans Bariana.

After a Masters in plant pathology – at the University of Arid Agriculture in Pakistan – and a work experience as seed virologist, Naeela joined Barani Agricultural Research Institute as plant pathologist and worked on projects related to wheat rust control. The importance of wheat rust diseases led her to pursue a doctoral program to learn genetic control of these deadly beasts.

Naeela’s PhD project focuses on development of molecular markers for diverse sources of rust resistance to facilitate their deployment in new cultivars. Pre-publication data from her project is made available to the wheat breeding community through the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program.

Naeela achieved one of her research objectives using IWGSC resources and wanted to share these findings in an international conference. Moreover “PAG provides excellent opportunity to meet with experts from all walks of life for the advancement of science which will also help in future networking.”

The IWGSC Award “will contribute greatly towards my professional growth. I am at an early stage of my career and being recognized by the wheat scientific community will enable me to get employment in world-leading laboratories. This award will be the icing on the cake to seek employment in this highly competitive area of science.”

The IWGSC Award will be in good company with the Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum Award that Naeela received in 2014.

As for future plan, and with the end of her PhD in sight, Naella will be looking for opportunities where she can apply her current knowledge and learn more about new technologies. She aspires to increase farm-gate returns through genetic control of crop diseases.

More information

• Naeela supervisor, Urmil Bansal, presented Naeela's work at PAG during the IWGSC workshop on Saturday 14 January 2017
• The presentation was entitled: “Fine mapping of the chromosome 5B region carrying closely linked rust resistance genes Yr47 and Lr52 in wheat” Abstract