By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After the Puttingal firework tragedy and cyclone Ockhi, the authorities had a tough time in identifying the bodies of the victims that were destroyed beyond recognition. Against this backdrop, scientist EV Soniya and her team of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) stepped in. They fell back to the theory books, put to use the dogmas, worked overtime and did the seemingly impossible task of identifying all the bodies in record time. Now, recognising these contributions and in the area of her research, she has now been selected for the National Woman Bioscientist Award (senior category). “My field of research in molecular biology and understanding the molecular mechanisms working behind the interactions of plants. But as head of DNA Fingerprinting Facility, I had to deal with the identification of dead bodies in Puttingal and Ockhi disasters,” said Soniya. She further added, “Both the tasks were challenging. But identifying the dead bodies in Ockhi disaster was more difficult.” Soniya and her team are also known for carrying out DNA fingerprinting of captive elephants in the state.

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