Rahila Hafeez, PhD

Plant pathology · Nanobiotechnology · Plant microbiome

Replacing fungicides with something safer that still works.

I build nanoparticles from bacteria and plant material, then trace what they do to fungal pathogens, to the crop, and to the microbial community left behind.

23peer-reviewed papers
4as first author
1registered patent

Research

Nano-enabled crop protection

Chitosan, copper, zinc oxide and selenium nanoparticles synthesised from moringa extract and mangrove bacteria, tested against rice blast, Fusarium head blight and strawberry anthracnose.

Biological control

Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Paenibacillus strains, their lipopeptides and cyclic dipeptides, and the genomic basis of their antagonism toward plant pathogens.

Plant microbiome

How treatment reshapes the rhizosphere and phyllosphere. A fungicide that sterilises the root zone has solved nothing, so community structure is measured alongside disease.

Postharvest disease

Extending shelf life without chemical residue, combining pathogen suppression with fruit quality, water loss and acute ecotoxicity in the same experiment.

More on the research

Selected publications

All 23 publications