Project Associate I in Rice Genome Editing, South Asian University (DBT ‘STUrDY’ Rice Project)
Job Description
A plant genome editing job in Delhi is open at South Asian University, where one Project Associate I is wanted for a Department of Biotechnology project on abiotic stress tolerance in rice. The post is with Dr Ananda Mustafiz at the Faculty of Life Science and Biotechnology.
At a glance
- Position: Project Associate I (01 post)
- Where: Faculty of Life Science and Biotechnology, South Asian University, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi
- Pay: Not stated in the advertisement
- Duration: Not stated in the advertisement
- Apply: No closing date is given; the recruitment poster was published on 8 September 2026 and applications are taken through an online form. ResearchJobs.in will re-check this listing on 21 October 2026.
The project is titled “Developing Abiotic Stress Tolerant High-Yielding ‘STUrDY’ Rice in Mega-Variety Swarna through Genome Editing” and is funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. Swarna is one of the most widely grown rice varieties in eastern India, which is what makes it the target: an improvement made in Swarna reaches farmers without asking them to change variety.
What the genome editing work involves
- Tissue culture and regeneration work in rice, which is the slow, skilled step that decides whether an editing programme moves at all
- Genome editing of the Swarna background towards abiotic stress tolerance
- Routine laboratory work supporting the project’s editing and screening pipeline
- Working in the Principal Investigator’s group at the Faculty of Life Science and Biotechnology
Why this role matters
Most published genome editing in rice is done in model varieties that are easy to transform and that no farmer grows. Moving the same edits into a mega-variety such as Swarna is harder and much more useful, and the bottleneck is nearly always tissue culture skill rather than molecular biology. Someone who can regenerate Swarna reliably is genuinely scarce, and this post is a chance to build that skill on a nationally funded project rather than as a side task.
Eligibility
- NET or GATE qualification
- Master’s degree in any life science discipline
- Relevant experience in plant tissue culture, preferably in rice cultivation and genome editing
The recruitment poster does not state the fellowship amount, the duration of the post or a closing date. Ask about all three before you commit time to an application.
Pay and duration
- The advertisement does not state an amount. Project Associate I is a defined grade under the Government of India’s fellowship norms, so ask the Principal Investigator what is sanctioned in this project
- The advertisement does not state a duration or a closing date
How to apply
Applications are made through the online form linked from the recruitment poster. Open the official South Asian University announcement, then the recruitment poster (PDF), and use the clickable application link or the QR code inside it. ResearchJobs.in has not reproduced the form address here because the poster gives it only as text on an image.
See more JRF and project fellowship posts, or browse all research jobs on ResearchJobs.in.
Hiring institution: South Asian University
Official advertisement: sau.int
How to prepare for this application
- Put your tissue culture experience at the top of the CV and be specific: which media, which explants, what regeneration frequency you actually achieved, and in which varieties
- If you have worked with indica rice rather than japonica, say so — indica regeneration is the harder problem and the one Swarna presents
- List the editing work you have done hands-on (vector design, Agrobacterium or protoplast delivery, screening, genotyping) separately from what you have only read about
- Have your NET or GATE score card and its validity ready to attach; project associate appointments are usually held to these norms strictly
- Email the Principal Investigator to confirm the sanctioned fellowship amount and the tenure before you apply, since the poster does not state either
About South Asian University
South Asian University is an international university in New Delhi set up by the SAARC member states. Its Faculty of Life Science and Biotechnology runs teaching and research programmes in plant and molecular biology, and hosts externally funded projects including work supported by the Department of Biotechnology.
