Dr. Snigdha Mohandas, the esteemed founder of Hope, brings over two decades of expertise in
biotechnology, microbiology, and food science research. She holds a Ph.D. in Biotechnology
from CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, where she researched the
uptake of aflatoxin by groundnut plants under Dr. G. Venkateswaran. She earned her Master’s
degree in Microbiology and completed her Bachelor's degree in Microbiology at the same
university.
Dr. Snigdha Mohandas has a diverse and extensive professional background. From 2014 to 2017,
she was a DBT Research Associate (DBT-RA) at the National Centre for Biological Sciences
(NCBS-TATA), Bangalore, where she explored vesicular trafficking in salt tolerance in plant
cells under Prof. MK Mathew. From 2018 to 2021, she worked at ICAR-Indian Institute of
Spices Research, Kozhikode, investigating miRNA-mediated gene regulation in ginger under Dr.
D. Prasath and focusing on aflatoxin management in spices under Dr. Anees K. During this time,
she was awarded the National Postdoctoral Fellowship (NPDF). Subsequently, she served as a
Project Scientist at ICAR-National Research Center for Banana, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, working on
the DBT-QUT project “Transfer and Evaluation of Indian Banana with PVA/Iron Constructs.”
Dr. Mohandas's career is marked by numerous accolades and scholarships. She received the Best
Research Paper Award from ICAR-IISR in 2021, the National Postdoctoral Fellowship (DST-
SERB) in 2018, and the DBT-RA Fellowship in 2014. In 2013, she was granted a DST travel
award for an oral presentation at the ISM-Mycored International Conference in Europe. Her
other honors include the Young Scientist Award from the Indian Society of Plant Physiology in
2012, the Best Poster Award at Panjab University in 2011, and the Golden Jubilee Best Poster
Award in 2009. She also received CSIR-UGC Junior and Senior Research Fellowships from
2008 to 2013 and secured top ranks in the GATE exams in 2006 and 2007, along with achieving
the first rank in B.Sc. Microbiology from the University of Calicut in 2003.