Ruchi Rani

Position: PhD Student, Department Molecular and Cell Biology, UCT

Ruchi is a PhD student in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Nicola Illing, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Robert Ingle, and Prof. Dr. Zoran Nikoloski. She holds a bachelor's degree in Life Sciences and two master’s degrees in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. Her main research interests are in the field of plant stress physiology. Previously, she worked in several prestigious research institutes (IVRI, NIPGR & IASRI) in India. For instance, she identified a lincRNA in tomato and investigated its role in response to temperature and light. Her PhD research focuses on the role of ncRNAs gene regulatory networks active during desiccation tolerance in the Xerophyta resurrection plant species. During her RESIST secondment, she will identify ncRNA from Xerophtya humilis exposed to various levels of drought under the supervision of Dr. Rafe Lyall at CPSBB, Bulgaria, and construct gene regulatory networks under the supervision of Dr. Zoran Nikoloski at the University of Potsdam, Germany.