Ms. Swadha Kailoo, Ph. D scholar from the Molecular Biology Lab, School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), recently represented the university at the prestigious Genomics India Conference 2025, held at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, from 12th to 14th August 2025.
Ms. Kailoo presented her research titled “From Frozen Genes to AMR: Harnessing Psychrophilic Metagenomes for Novel Antimicrobials” as a poster presentation. Her work explored the metagenomic mining of cold-adapted Western Himalayan microbes for potential novel antimicrobials, blending functional screening and next-generation sequencing techniques, a topic of high relevance amid the global AMR (antimicrobial resistance) challenge.
The participation enabled Ms. Kailoo to engage with domain experts and obtain hands-on training in NGS workflows, strengthening both her academic skill set and the visibility of SMVDU in high-impact scientific forums.
Ms. Kailoo has expressed her heartfelt gratitude to her supervisor, Dr. Shafaq Rasool, for her continuous encouragement and support in her academic and research journey. Ms. Kailoo has also thanked Prof. Pragati Kumar, the Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU, for their support in providing this opportunity to present and engage with eminent scientists and peers at the national forum.
SMVDU congratulates Ms. Kailoo on her representation and wishes her continued success in her research endeavours.