CQU Plant Sciences graduate Dr Poonam Bhatia plans to accept the offer of a prestigious fellowship to work at the University of Tokyo.

The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral (JSPSP) Fellowship will allow her to study fundamental genetic processes which enable plants to cope with the stress of high-salt and low-water conditions.

This is important 4.5% of present cultivated land.

Dr Bhatia said the proposed research had the potential to develop stress-tolerant crops through better understanding of the gene expression and the role of 'sigma' factors in turning chloroplast genes on and off under stress conditions.

She recently completed her PhD under the guidance of Dr Tissa Senaratna from Kings Park and Botanical Gardens as well as Dr Nanjappa Ashwath and Professor David Midmore from CQU.

Dr Bhatia's postdoctoral fellowship application was supported by CQU's Associate Professor Kerry Walsh and Dr Nanjappa Ashwath.

Dr Bhatia's plant science researcher husband Dr Naveen Bhatia, also a CQU graduate who was offered the same Fellowship earlier this year, is now based in Sydney thanks to the Australian Synchrotron Research Program (ASRP) Fellowship.