Predoctoral fellow

So Hyung graduated from Ghent University Global Campus in South Korea in 2021, majoring Molecular Biotechnology with magna cum laude. Her Bachelor's project was conducted in the lab of Prof. Dr. Hoo Sun Chung, focusing on unravelling a novel suppressor in MAP kinase signalling network. Followed by working as a full-time research assistant in Chung lab after graduation, So Hyung has participated in the project 'Reprogramming Stem Cell Niches', gaining expertise in protoplasting and marker-assisted microscopy screening of Arabidopsis chemical mutants. After having a fruitful exchange semester in UGent, So Hyung continued her passion in plants by commencing master programme in Biochemistry & Biotechnology, focusing on plant biotechnology and bioinformatics. Master projects and thesis were conducted in PSB Bio-Energy lab and Cell Cycle lab, delving into plant regeneration potentials in Arabidopsis and poplar to improve regeneration efficiency of poorly-propagating species. After obtaining her Master's degree, So Hyung embarked on a Ph.D. journey in Advanced Live Cell Imaging lab, under mentorship of Prof. Dr. Daniël Van Damme. So Hyung is part of the GOA consortium 'Microspore embryoGENESIS', collaborating with lab of Programmed Cell Death (Nowack lab), Oxygen Stress Signalling (Van Breusegem lab), Inter-organelle Signalling (De Clercq lab) and Horticell (Geelen lab). Within the project, So Hyung aims to elucidate the role of autophagy in microspore embryogenesis to enhance double haploid production in crops, using Brassica napus (oilseed rape) as a model plant.

Bert De Rybel graduated from the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of Ghent University in 2005 before starting his PhD research in the group of prof. Tom Beeckman, focusing on early lateral root development. For his postdoctoral research, he moved to the lab of prof. Dolf Weijers at Wageningen University in early 2010 funded by Marie-Curie and FEBS postdoc grants. Here, he initiated work on early vascular development. He received a NWO VIDI grant to continue this line of research in an independent manner. Funded by an FWO Odysseus II and an ERC Starting Grant, Bert moved back to Belgium in 2015 to initiate his own lab within VIB and was elected EMBO young investigator in 2019. Bert is currently group leader at VIB of the ‘Vascular Development’ lab and full professor at Ghent University. His group aims at integrating developmental, cell and evolutionary biology to understand how plant vascular tissues develop and is funded by FWO and ERC Consolidator grants.

Eline graduated from the Faculty of Sciences at Ghent University in 2021 with a Master in Biology, after which she continued her studies with a one-year Advanced Master in Plant Biotechnology. She performed her second Master thesis in the Vascular Development lab, where she subsequently joined to start a PhD in November 2022. Her project is embedded within the “PIPELINES” ERC Consolidator Grant (EU-funding) which was acquired by Bert De Rybel, and aims to discover novel transcriptional regulators in the process of vascular development through the use of single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. By studying the scRNA-seq data of evolutionary diverged model species that contain a vascular system, she aims to find regulators in xylem and phloem which are evolutionary conserved.

PSB - Systems biology of Yield

I am a senior Argentinian postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Profs. Dirk Inzé and Hilde Nelissen at the VIB Ugent Center for Plant Systems Biology (PSB) in Belgium. My primary research interest lies in the study of how gene networks shape plant physiological responses and how this information can be translated into trait improvements in maize. I earned a PhD in biological sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and did my thesis under the supervision of Prof. Pablo Cerdán in Fundación Instituto Leloir (Buenos Aires). During my PhD i studied the conservation of flowering mechanisms between Arabidopsis thaliana and the forage crop Medicago sativa (alfalfa) in order to improve its biomass quality. I later did a first postdoc in Prof. Marcelo Yanovsky’s lab where i studied the shade avoidance responses of soybean and alfalfa, aiming to create improved yielding varieties suited for high-density cultivation. Presently i work in BREEDIT, a multidisciplinary ERC funded project combining both gene editing and classical breeding aspects in maize with the objective of improving yield and drought resistance in this crop.

Claudia von der Mark

With a strong background in root physiology and vascular development, Claudia joined the group of prof. Bert De Rybel in September 2022 to explore the transcriptional landscape and central regulators of xylem formation. During her undergraduate and graduate studies, which she conducted at the Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf (Germany), she worked on deciphering the plant’s iron deficiency response under the lead of Prof. Petra Bauer. In March 2018 she moved to Switzerland to conduct her doctoral research at the ETH Zurich. Together with her supervisor Prof. Antia Rodriguez-Villalon and colleagues she investigated the role of signaling phospholipids during vascular development. Claudia was a scholarship holder of the Walter Benjamin stipend (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and is currently supported by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) in form of a junior postdoctoral fellowship.