dr. N (Nikita) Sajeev

Nikita obtained her MSc. degree in Plant Biotechnology at Wageningen University and Research (WUR) . For her MSc. thesis, She worked under the supervision of Dr. Yanxia Zhang at the department of plant physiology. Knowledge from this project could help mitigate the devastating yield losses caused by parasitic plant Striga to major food crops like rice and sorghum. She also followed a minor in project management and entrepreunership in biotechnology during her studies.

Subsequently in Jan 2023, Nikita pursued and obatined her PhD degree, under the supervision of Prof. Leonie Bentsink from the department of Plant Physiology, WUR. Her research focused on the role of RNA binding proteins (RBPs) in the translational control of seed germination. She showed that RBPs can be used as tools to fine-tune germination in agriculture and under challenging environmental conditions. She continued this research during a short postdoc within the same group untill September 2023. 

During her PhD studies, Nikita co-founded the GeneSprout Initiative- A young researcher initiative for open dialogue on New plant breeding techniques. She worked with this Initiative extensively from 2018-2023. She has always been passionate about science communication and bridging the gap between science and society. 

Since Nov 2023, she is working as a Biotech Knowledge Transfer and Outreach officer within the Knowledge Transfer Office at the department of Corporate Value Creation in Wageningen university and Research. In this role, she strives to help scientists bring exciting biotech innovations to society and thereby maximize impact.