JAMMU: Dr. Skarma Nonzom, Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, University of Jammu was honoured with the prestigious “Young Scientist Award” by the Society of Plant Research – Vegetos: An International Journal of Plant Research and a felicitation prize of 300 euros by the “Springer Nature” in the National Conference on “Good Agricultural Practices of selected Medicinal Plants” & SPR-Mini Symposium on “Biotechnological & Genomic tools to combat climate change” held at the Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
Dr. Skarma was selected for this award from a competitive pool of 139 candidates. During the conference, Dr. Skarma also delivered an invited lecture on “Beyond Boundaries: The Mycoflora of Cold Environments” in the SPR-Mini Symposium on “Biotechnological & Genomic tools to combat climate change”. This award was conferred upon Dr. Skarma in recognition of her significant contributions in the field of mycology particularly, fungal endophytes, medical mycology and extremophilic fungi in the regions of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Dr. Nonzom and her research team have seamlessly integrated traditional methodologies with modern advancements in mycology, leading to the discovery of three novel fungal species. Additionally, they have reported seven fungal species as new records for the Indian subcontinent, significantly enriching the nation's mycoflora. Notably, their research has unveiled, seven fungal species as new global reports and two as new Indian records as etiological agents of superficial mycosis.
Dr. Skarma and her team have also worked in the applied fields of mycology to explore the extremozymes of psychrotropic microfungi, antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant potential of fungal endophytes along with in-vitro testing of various common drugs in combating causal agents of superficial mycoses.
Their research has been published in numerous prestigious journals, such as, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Mycoses, Symbiosis, Microbial Pathogenesis, Folia Microbiologica, Current Microbiology, Phytotaxa, Studies in Fungi, Current Science, Czech Mycology, etc.
