Sommerserie: Wien erforschen (4)
| 28. August 2012
In der uni:view-Sommerserie erzählen internationale Lise-Meitner-Fellows von sich und ihrer Forschung an der Universität Wien, Zukunftsplänen und ihren Lieblingsplätzen in Wien. Heute: Rajesh Tewari aus Indien, der am Department für Terrestrische Ökosystemforschung forscht (in Englisch).
Why Vienna and the University of Vienna:
The University of Vienna is one of the oldest and most glorious universities and contributed to science as well as society. I have known the University of Vienna since 1989 when I was a high school student of science. I wanted to pursue my doctoral studies here. However, due to a limitation of funds I could not make a formal application. It was my dream to do research at this university and it became true when my proposal for the prestigious Lise-Meitner fellowship was approved.
 | Rajesh Tewari in his favourite place – the lab compound (outside his laboratory in the University centre, UZA 1): "In their free time people relax here with coffee or tea and have fun. The place is very green." |
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My Lise Meitner Project:
My research topic is "Contributions of Iron to Programmed Cell Death in Plants". Iron is essential for all forms of life, but it's also potentially toxic. In cellular environments, FeII catalyses the Fenton reaction in presence of superoxide anion or hydrogen peroxide. Phenolic secondary metabolites such as juglone, (±)-catechin and 8-hydroxyquinoline are competitive ligands of iron. I am testing these metabolites regarding the induction of programmed cell death in plants. Due to differential redox properties of these metabolites it is really interesting to study their mode of action in plant cell death because they play a crucial role in plant invasion.
 | Cell death in the leaf of -Fe, and Fe-Hydroxyquinoline (Fe-HQ) treated plants. Highly stained blue colour regions are representing cell death. Fe deficiency (-Fe) and Fe complexed with Hydroxyquinoline (Fe-HQ) showed relatively high cell death compared to control plants. |
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My favourite places in Vienna:
Since my arrival I am busy with experiments. Therefore, I could not visit Vienna. Maybe in the future, I will visit the city. My favourite place in Vienna is my University centre, UZA 1.
Something surprising:
One day I saw a lady in the subway having several piercings in her lips, tongue, ears and several other body parts. That surprised me a lot.
Plans for the future:
At present I do not have any plans. However, if I managed to get further funding for my research I could extend my tenure.
| Short CV: Rajesh Tewari was born on 25 February 1975 in India. He got his primary education in his village. Tewari received his B. Sc. from the Ewing Christian College (a constituent college of the University of Allahabad) in 1994, masters (M. Sc., 1996; M. Phil., 1998) and doctorate (Ph.D., 2004) from the University of Lucknow. He taught undergraduate students at the University of Lucknow for a session (2005-2006). After that he did postdoctoral research in Korea at the Chungbuk National University and Korea Basic Science Institute (2006-2008). Moreover, he received the prestigious JSPS postdoctoral fellowship at the Chiba University, Japan (2008-2010). Currently he is a Lise-Meitner fellow at the University of Vienna. |
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Mit dem Lise-Meitner-Programm fördert der FWF hoch qualifizierte WissenschafterInnen aller Fachdisziplinen, die an einer österreichischen Forschungsstätte zur weiteren Entwicklung der Wissenschaften beitragen können. (Copyright Vorlage Coverbild: studio.es/flickr.com)
