Dr. Santosh Kumar

Dr Kumar obtained his PhD (Biotechnology) degree from CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. After a brief stint as Research Associate in Bose Institute, Kolkata, India he moved to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (HUJI) for his post-doctoral studies. During his tenure at HUJI, he elucidated the mechanism of silica deposition in sorghum silica cells mostly using laser scanning confocal and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Next, he joined the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel for another post-doctoral study where he worked on silica deposition in diatoms. Using state of the art cryo-SEM, cryo-Focused Ion Beam scanning electron microscopy and cryo-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy he imaged and quantified the homeostatic levels of intracellular silicon in diatoms.