Madhavi Daida joined with the Root-Soil-Microbial Interactions group at the Global Institute for Food Security, supervised by Dr. Leon Kochian as a research associate in 2018.

Madhavi was born and raised in Hyderabad, India. After completing her Master’s degree in Genetics from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India in 1998, she was awarded a PhD in Plant Biotechnology with tissue culture, genetic transformation, molecular biology and pathology as specializations from Osmania University and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India in 2006. During her PhD, her research focused on the “Production of transgenic millets resistant to fungal pathogens”.

Her interest is to excel in the domain of plant microbiome, microbial formulations, microbial interactions, biotechnology, genetic engineering, genetic transformation and discoveries.  

Madhavi’s research in the RSMI group is focused on root microbiome; she would like to investigate the role of microbiome in regulating the root architecture system and its influence on plant phosphorus and nitrogen uptake under drought and nutrient stress (P and N starvation).