Shimla, Jan 10 (IANS): A four-member multi-institutional team of scientists, comprising a scientist from Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in Himachal Pradesh’s Nauni, has been granted a patent on ‘antifungal properties of nanoparticles’.

Monica Sharma, who is working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the university’s College of Horticulture and Forestry in Hamirpur, is one of the inventors in the patent along with scientists of Amity University and ISRC, Shimla.

The nanoparticles have the potential to be used as new antimycotic agents and hence could be used as an alternative to synthetic fungicides for the management of diseases in crops.

Nanoparticles have high reactivity for their target sites and hence affect the growth and activity of fungal pathogens even at very low concentrations.

Monica Sharma has been working in the field of antifungal properties of nanoparticles for the last six years and has published research papers in journals of international repute with high impact factors.