Dr Smitha Hegde, associate professor, department of post-graduate studies and research in biotechnology, St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, has been awarded the Professor SS Bir gold medal in Pteridology for her scientific work towards advancement of science in the area of ferns.

The award was recently handed over by Dr PS Ahuja, director general, Council of Industrial Research (CSIR) and Dr SP Khullar, secretary treasurer of Indian Fern Society at the National Conference on ‘Modern Approaches to Pteridophytes: Biology, Biodiversity and Bioresource’ at the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur.

Dr Hegde is currently screening ferns of the Western Ghats region, particularly the Kudremukh National Park region, for their capacity of hyper accumulation of heavy metals. She said, “As a first step, a field guide has been written reporting 38 ferns of the region.
Simultaneously, I am undertaking a project on DNA fingerprinting of ferns of the region to confirm the identity of selected ferns of the region.” She has developed a technique of encapsulating sporophytes produced in vitro as ‘Protocorm-like bodies’ in Alginate beads to enable transportation of the in vitro produced planting material to the field with minimum shock and damage, thus producing the first ‘Synthetic seeds’ for ferns in 1995.

She worked on (Cyathea spp) tree ferns of the Western Ghats for post-doctoral studies .

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> News> State / by Deepthi Sanjiv, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / January 12th, 2015