SNU team selected for Sakura Science Prog in Japan

Kolkata: Sister Nivedita University (SNU) has announced that a team of seven postgraduate students and one faculty member has been selected for the prestigious 2025 Sakura Science Program – Collaborative Research Activities Course, which will support a three-week academic and research visit to

Okayama University, Japan.

The selected participants are from the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Microbiology of Sister Nivedita University. The programme will fully fund their visit, during which they will engage in joint research activities, interact with Japanese researchers, and gain exposure to advanced research techniques and academic practices.

The delegation will be led by Surjit Singh, assistant professor in the Department of Biotechnology, who has also been awarded the competitive grant. Singh’s research interests include plant molecular biology, nutrient homeostasis, and stress physiology, and his participation is expected to further strengthen academic collaboration between the two institutions.

The selected students are Swapnaneel Pal, Retam Paul, Adrija Basu Roy Chowdhury, Piasa Mukherjee, Swakshar Som, Prantika Maity, and Srijaa Sau, all final-year M.Sc. students specialising in areas such as molecular cell engineering, medical protein engineering, organelle system engineering, cell function designing, and biomaterial engineering.

University officials said the selection reflects the academic calibre of students enrolled in the Microbiology and Biotechnology programmes. This is the third occasion on which Sister Nivedita University has received the Sakura Science overseas travel grant, underlining its continued emphasis on providing international research exposure to both students and faculty members.