Dr. Madiha Khan, a postdoctoral fellow from Pakistan was awarded Foreign Scholars Research funding from the National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC) of China

  • October 4, 2022
  • chfs
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Recently, Prof. Liu Jihong of the College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences and Prof. Jin Shuangxia of the College of Plant Science and Technology co-supervised postdoctoral fellow Madiha Khan, who won the grant of RMB 200,000 from the NSFC Foreign Scholars Research Fund (Young Scholars) for the period January 2023 to December 2023. The program of the NSFC Research Fund for Foreign Scholars aims to support outstanding foreign researchers to conduct research in China, choose their own topics within the scope of NSFC funding, and promote long-term and stable academic cooperation between foreign and Chinese scholars.

Dr. Madiha Khan is from Pakistan and received her Ph.D. degree in fruit science from Huazhong Agricultural University in December 2021. She is mainly engaged in citrus cultivation and stress response research and has published several innovative research papers as first or co-author in journals like New Phytologist, Plant Journal, etc. The title of this project is “Elucidation of the molecular mechanism underlying the ERF110-UGT module involved in cold tolerance of Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf”, focusing on the molecular mechanism of plant hormone signals responding to low temperature and improving the cold resistance of citrus rootstocks. Citrus is the number one fruit tree in China and is mainly planted in the south of the Yangtze River. The extremely low temperature in winter often causes irreparable losses to citrus production. This project is carried out in view of important industry issues and will provide key functional genes and a theoretical basis for the cultivation of low-temperature resistant and high-quality rootstocks of citrus.

Prof. Liu Jihong’s group focuses on international cooperation and the training of foreign students from Pakistan, Syria, Oman, and several other countries. Many of these students have produced excellent research findings, which significantly improve the standard of talent development for international students at our university.

Author: Madiha Khan

Reviewer: Liu Jihong