Rojas Lab
Sapana Ghimire is a PhD student in Plant Pathology, and works in Clemencia Rojas' lab.
Her research focus is on Bacterial Panicle Blight (BPB) in rice, which is an emerging threat to global food security in the context of fluctuations in rainfall and higher temperatures. She seeks to understand the genetic basis of resistance to the combined stress of BPB and high night temperatures (HNT) by identifying candidate genes for resistance and susceptibility.
She presented her findings at the Nebraska Plant Science Symposium 2025 and the American Society of Plant Biologists Midwest Conference 2025. Her continued research could be used to develop rice varieties resistant to the combined stress of BPB and HNT, improving the yield and quality of crops.
Sapana aspires to be an independent researcher dedicated to exploring molecular genetic tools to improve crop varieties to withstand both biotic and abiotic stress.