Postdoc Council Members

PostDoc, Laboratory of Nematology-Wageningen University & Research

About my research

I am a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Brasília, Brazil (2016). I have specialized in plant viruses and plant-virus interactions during most of my career and in my current post-doc position I am broadening my horizons, looking at plant-nematode interactions from the perspective of chemical signaling between potato and potato cyst nematodes. I have been working in the interface between companies and academia for the last 5 years through the scope of TTW projects with multiple companies including KeyGene, Rijk Zwaan, Enza Zaaden, Taki, Averis, Solynta, Avico, and others.

PostDoc, Plant Physiology – University of Amsterdam

About my research

After completing my PhD at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) focussing on galactose oxidases and their roles in modifying pectin properties, I decided to change the course of my research. I am currently investigating mechanisms of perception of green leaf volatiles (GLVs) in Arabidopsis, as well as the mechanisms of defence priming by GLVs against fungal pathogens.

PostDoc Fellow, Laboratory of Plant Physiology – Wageningen University and Research

About my research

Throughout my academic career I’ve always been interested in how plants integrate multiple environmental signals into a coherent developmental response. My work has taken me across Europe, with stops in Bristol, Utrecht, Madrid and now Wageningen. Here my focus is on warm-temperature induced root elongation it’s interaction with drought signalling.

I joined the PostDoc council in 2021. Postdocs are a critical part of the research (and often teaching) infrastructure, but receive less support that other academic roles. Through my work on the council I hope to build a stronger post-doc community in EPS, and to help my colleagues deal with the stresses of postdoc life.

Postdoc, Plant Ecophysiology – Utrecht University

About my research

During my PhD, at Wageningen University, I had the opportunity to work on the non-model plant species tulip, where I studied the effect of temperature on the molecular regulation of flowering time and dormancy in tulip. This research led to the curiosity of how plants sense their environment and how they respond to it. After my first postdoc at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL),  I joined the group of Professor Voesenek, which studies the plant’s response to flooding stress. My current project focusses on how ethylene enhanced flooding tolerance in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana.

PostDoc, Department of Biochemistry – Wageningen University
About my research
My name is Tatyana (Tanya) and I am currently PostDoctoral researcher in the group of Prof Dolf Weijers at Wageningen University. My PhD project was focused on alternative ways of inducing embryogenesis in plants and in particular on suspensor-derived embryogenesis. In addition, I am interested in the plant signaling molecule auxin. The auxin response pathway implicates only three main gene families, among which is the inhibiting Aux/IAA proteins. The Aux/IAA family can be subdivided into two groups, canonical and non-canonical, based on presence or conservation of domains. Strikingly, recent phylogenomic analysis of the nuclear auxin response pathway reveals a deep conservation of non-canonical Aux/IAA (ncIAA), which is present in a single copy in all evolutionary nodes (Mutte, Kato et al., 2018) and which I am investigating.

PostDoc, Plant ecophysiology – Utrecht University.
About my research

My research project aims to assess the phenotypic diversity of different potato cultivars during flooding stress and elucidate the molecular and physiological mechanisms conferring flooding tolerance in potato. I joined the EPS because I believe plant scientist should work as a community were needs, concerns and ideas are shared. Since I am new in The Netherlands, this was an amazing opportunity for me.

PostDoc, Molecular Plant Pathology group – University of Amsterdam

About my Research

After a PhD within the Epigenetics and small RNAs team in the Jean-Pierre Bourgin Institute (INRAE, Versailles/University of Paris-Saclay) in France, I joined the Molecular Plant Pathology group in the University of Asmterdam as a PostDoc. My goal is to identify and characterize Suceptibility genes involved in resistance to black rot, a devastating disease of brassica crops worldwide caused by the pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

Postdoc Plant Physiology – Wageningen University.

About my research
‘My major research interest is on how plants survive in dry environments. I have been investigating genomic, physiological, and molecular responses to desiccation tolerance in orthodox seeds and resurrection plants, and drought responses on roots. I found that during evolution plants developed a powerful molecular and regulatory toolkit to protect their cells against the damages caused by water loss. Currently I work as a postdoc in the Seeds for the Future initiative, where I am combining my knowledge on physiology and genomics, with biochemical and biophysical information of desiccation tolerant cells, to use appropriate molecular biology techniques in order understand how cell protection and survival in the dry state can contribute to longevity in seeds and improve drought tolerance in crops.

Postdoc, Plant-Microbe Interactions, Utrecht University

About my research

My name is Mon-Ray Shao, and I am a postdoctoral researcher in Guido van den Ackervecken’s group at Utrecht University, with an interest in genetics and digital plant phenotyping. Currently, I am using image-based multiscale 2D/3D phenotyping to study susceptibility vs resistance against Bremia lactucae (downy mildew) in lettuce. Compared to classical resistance mechanisms (R genes), much less is known about quantitative or “field” resistance, even though this form is more durable and less likely to be evaded by pathogen evolution. The aim of my research is to understand the genetic and physiological basis of this resistance so that it can be utilized in plant breeding.

Postdoc, Plant-Microbe Interaction, Utrecht University

About my research

I’m Yang from China. I love meeting people from various research backgrounds and different cultures. I’m doing my postdoc at Plant-Microbe Interaction group in Utrecht University. This is a 2 years project cooperating with HZPC (one of the biggest potato breeding company in Europe) and TU delft. The goal of my project is to find microbes that act as predictors of potato vitalities.