DrMumta Chhetri

Mumta Chhetri completed her MSc. degree from Wageningen University Netherlands specializing in Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources. She examined quantitative resistance in barley for Puccinia hordei and Blumeria graminis. In 2011, she received the Australian Leadership Award from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government to pursue PhD program at the Universityof Sydney. Her doctoral research project "Molecular mapping and genetic characterization of rust resistance in wheat" contributed significantly to the field of rust research. Her extensive research on wheat rust led her to identify, map, and officially name three novel wheat rust-resistantgenes: Yr58, Yr72 & Lr74.

Prior to her PhD studies, she worked as a National Rice Coordinator in Bhutan, where she demonstrated her commitment to improving agricultural practices and worked towards empowering local farmers. She released four blast disease-resistant rice varieties for Bhutanese farmers. In 2018, she joined Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to further advance her research. Her focus at CSIRO spun around Fusarium Crown Rot resistance, which involved molecular mapping and marker development utilizing RNA-seq techniques and bioinformatic tools. Her research led to the design of SNP-based diagnostic markers for three Fusarium Crown Rot resistant genes. She joined the University of Sydney in June 2021 and started working on cereal rust diseases and fungicide resistance at PBI Cobbitty, Camden Campus.