A plant scientist from the University of Nottingham has been awarded €2M for research to unlock the mysteries of how plant roots sense and respond to water availability.
Dr Poonam Mehra is a BBSRC Discovery Fellow in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham and has been selected from over 3,000 applicants to receive a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting grant for her research.
Her project titled 'Water Blind' will pioneer the first-of-its-kind screening of mutants to identify 'water-blind' roots, which are impaired in their ability to perceive water. Multidisciplinary approaches will be utilized to uncover the molecular networks responsible for water sensing and explore how these mechanisms influence soil exploration and water foraging in plants.
The funding is one of 494 Starting Grants awarded to young scientists and scholars across Europe. The finding – totalling nearly €780 million – supports cutting-edge research in a wide range of fields, from life sciences and physics to social sciences and humanities. It will help researchers at the beginning of their careers to launch their own projects, form their teams and pursue their most promising ideas.
"Water stress is one of the most significant challenges facing global agriculture, particularly as climate change disrupts traditional rainfall patterns," said Dr Mehra. "While we know that plant roots can adapt their shape to forage for water, the mechanisms behind how roots sense water availability remain largely unknown. The ERC funding will allow me to explore this question using innovative, real-world approaches."
Read more at University of Nottingham.