SEB Birthday Grant

Dr. Philippa Borrill

John Innes Centre

Dr Philippa Borrill is a Group Leader at the John Innes Centre investigating gene function in polyploid wheat. Her research seeks to understand the mechanisms controlling functional redundancy between gene copies and to apply this knowledge in crop improvement, particularly to increase grain nutrient content. Philippa’s work on wheat genomics and transcriptomics has been recognised by awards such as the New Phytologist 2019 Tansley Medal for Excellence in Plant Science and the Society for Experimental Biology Plant President’s Medal 2022. 

Dr Christian Damsgaard

Aarhus University

Dr. Christian Damsgaard is an Assistant Professor at Aarhus University within the Department of Biology and Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies. His research has a strong focus on physiological mechanisms underlying gas exchange and metabolism in vertebrates, with a specific focus on the bird retina.

Prof. Tobias Wang

Aarhus University

No bio provided

Simon Michaeli

Volcani Institute

Simon obtained his Ph.D. at Tel-Aviv University, where he studied the cross-membrane transport of the stress-related molecule GABA in Arabidopsis. Simon then joined the Weizmann Institute of Science as a postdoc, where he identified selective autophagy of chloroplast proteins during leaf senescence. To further investigate how viruses subvert autophagy, he then moved to France for a 2^nd postdoc (CNRS Montpellier and Strasbourg). Today, Simon is a group leader at the Postharvest Department of the Volcani Institute in Israel, trying to solve some unknown mysteries of leaf senescence and fruit ripening.

David Audu

PhD student and Lecturer, Federal University Of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria

My name is David Audu, a PhD student and Lecturer at the Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, Federal University Of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. I am working presently
on antimalarial resistance and toxicology.

Dr Christine Madliger

Assistant Professor of Environmental Science , Algoma University

Madliger is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Algoma University in Ontario, Canada. Her research program focuses on determining how environmental change impacts stress physiology, behaviour, and fitness in birds and fishes, with a particular emphasis on applications for conservation science. She is also an Associate Editor for Conservation Physiology.

Jennifer Foote

Algoma University

No bio provided

Dr Daniel Gomez Isaza

Murdoch University

Dr Daniel Gomez Isaza is an ecological physiologist, specialising in fish and aquaculture research. Daniel currently holds a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Murdoch University, Perth Australia. Daniel's research asks questions about how animals function in changing or extreme environments. He is particularly interested in the plasticity and flexibility of physiological systems from a comparative perspective. His current research explores the responses of ectothermic or “cold-blooded” animals to temperature variation and heat waves.

Dr Essie Rodgers

Murdoch University

Dr Essie Rodgers is the Head of the Conservation Physiology and Aquaculture Lab (www.rodgerslab.com) at Murdoch University in Western Australia. Dr Rodgers completed her PhD at The University of Queensland where she studied the impacts of climate warming on the diving physiology of saltwater crocodiles. Following this, Essie held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California Davis (USA), the University of Antwerp (Belgium), and the Australian National University where she investigated the ecophysiology of freshwater and marine fishes, and Australian lizards. Dr Rodgers was recently the recipient of the 2022 L'Oréal-UNSECO For Women in Science Fellowship, which has provided her with a platform to be an active role model for girls interested in science.

Marina B. A. Minoli

Professor FRSB CSciTeach,

Marina B. A. Minoli is a biologist - a biochemist Fellow CSciTeach Royal Society of Biology-British Science Council, international researcher, specialized and expert in innovative bioscience didactics and STEM interdisciplinary education. She is member of scientific reviewers panel - EMBL Laboratory Heidelberg, specialized also in Innovative Cellular Biology Teaching - EMBL Heidelberg. From 2017 she is member of scientific committee of the International Conference “New Perspectives in Science Education” and author of international pubblications, scientific articles about innovative interdisciplinary didactic bioscience topics; creator of STEM innovative science education projects presented as speaker in international seminaries, conferences and congresses.

Simon Baeckens

Ghent University

Simon Baeckens is an evolutionary biologist interested in contemporary evolution and adaptations in lizards

Dr. Amanda Cavanagh

University of Essex

Dr. Amanda Cavanagh’s research interest in plant environmental physiology covers molecular biology, biochemistry, and leaf physiology. Amanda completed her PhD at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, where she worked on Rubisco - the enzyme that feeds the world. During her postdoc at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the USA, she tested synthetic biology pathways that improve photosynthetic performance in crops under field and environmental stress conditions. She is currently a lecturer at the University of Essex, where her lab explores leaf and plant-level responses to abiotic stress under field and laboratory conditions, and is developing strategies to optimize crop performance in response to the changing climate.

: @@cavycavs @PlantEssex

Professor Tracy Lawson

University of Essex

Professor Tracy Lawson is a professor in the Plant Productivity group and Director of Plant Phenotyping at Essex, with over 25 years’ experience in photosynthesis research. Her research focuses on the stomatal control of atmospheric gas entry into the leaf, associated water loss and the mechanisms that regulate this process. Recent research has paid particular attention to stomatal kinetics and the impact of dynamic environments on both photosynthesis and stomatal behaviour. Tracy’s work also concentrates on phenotyping including chlorophyll fluorescence techniques (for quantifying light use and photosynthetic efficiency) and thermal imaging (for measuring stomatal responses and kinetics). Lawson’s lab developed the first imaging system for screening plant water-use-efficiency (McAusland et al., 2013).

 

 

 

Dr Pallavi Singh

University of Essex

Pallavi grew up in India surrounded by rice fields and her grandfather’s mango orchards, sparking her interest in plants at an early age. She obtained her BSc (Botany, Chemistry) and MSc (Biochemistry) at University of Lucknow (India). In 2011, she was awarded the CSIR-Junior Research Fellowship to pursue a PhD at National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi (India), where she worked on defining MAPK signal transduction networks and submergence tolerance in rice. Pallavi’s PhD work has been recognised by INSA- and NASI- Young Scientist Awards (2019, 2017) from the Academy of Sciences in India. In October 2015, she joined Cornell University (USA), where her work on rice-xanthomonas interactions revealed a novel role of pathogenic TAL-effectors in bidirectional transcription in rice, contributing to the understanding of disease susceptibility. In 2017, Pallavi moved to University of Cambridge (UK) to work with Professor Julian Hibberd and was appointed the John Henry Coates Research Fellow at Emmanuel College in 2018. At Cambridge, her research focussed on transcriptional regulation of C₄ photosynthesis. Her work demonstrated that C₄ plants utilise C₃ ancestral gene regulatory networks to rewire C₄ photosynthesis, marking a crucial conceptual advancement in comprehending the evolution of C₄ photosynthesis. Moreover, her pioneering work on monocot grafting overturned the consensus dating back thousands of years that cereal and related species do not graft. These findings have provided a valuable research tool to explore plant physiology, genetics and inter-organ signalling in various cereal crop systems.

Since September 2022, Pallavi is a Lecturer at the University of Essex (UK). Her research group focuses on studying various aspects of water use strategies in crop plants. The lab aims to enhance photosynthetic productivity by concentrating on the complementary requirement to balance plant water supply with carbon gain, maximising water use efficiency. The overarching goal of their research is to develop more water-efficient crops and promote climate-smart agriculture.

: @Thepallavisingh

Dr. Jamie MacLaren

University of Antwerp

My name is Jamie MacLaren, and I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Antwerp Functional Morphology Lab where I specialise in comparative anatomy, functional morphology and palaeobiology. My training is as a zoologist and palaeobiologist, and much of my research has focused on the evolution of the perissodactyl locomotor and feeding apparatus.

My work often centres around 3D imaging, with forays into biomechanical modelling and comparative dissection. I use a combination of morphometrics, phylogenetics, functional traits analyses, and biomechanics to investigate the evolution of form and function in a range of vertebrates, including mammals, squamates, and archosaurs.