Predoctoral fellow

In the context of my master dissertation, I performed research at the Rhizosphere group on the involvement of germin-like proteins (GLPs) in the establishment and progression of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) symbiosis. This thesis was conducted with the aim of increasing the understanding of plant genes, such as GLPs, in mediating AMF colonization, which in the long term may enhance AMF-induced crop growth benefits, and thereby its agricultural applicability as biofertilizer. In 2023, I started my PhD focussing on expanding local soybean cultivation towards northern latitudes. The establishment of symbiosis with indigenous rhizobia strains acclimatized to these regions is crucial for efficient nitrogen fixation and the production of protein-rich beans. The ‘Soy in 1000 Garden’ initiative has unveiled the coexistence of beneficial local Bradyrhizobium sp. and non-diazotrophic Tardiphaga robiniae within functional soybean nodules, raising questions about their role as either symbiotic facilitators or competitive exploiters.

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Qian obtained his doctoral degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2011, under the supervision of Professor Qifa Zhang at the National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement in Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China. During his PhD study, his research interest was focused on the dissection of the role of gibberellin metabolism and signaling in the biological basis of rice heterosis. Due to his interest in phytohormone research, especially at the interface between biology and chemistry, he joined Stéphanie Robert's group in Umeå Plant Science Center in Sweden as a postdoctoral researcher in 2012, working on the mechanistic understanding of phytohormone-mediated differential growth in Arabidopsis using a chemical biology strategy and the apical hook as a model. In June 2019, he joined the lab of Jenny Russinova to continue the chemical biology research to identify the targets for small molecules and the potential BR binding proteins.
 

My career path

I am both full professor at Ghent University and group leader at the VIB center of Plant Systems Biology in Belgium, combining guidanance of my research group with teaching and organizing of University education. Next to deciphering important scientific questions with my research team, it is my ultimate goal to use teaching to stimulate students into becoming the next generation of scientists that aim to find solutions for nowadays and future problems through applying a combination of fundamental and applied research.
 
Graduated as a chemist, I started my research career in 1992 at the UGent focusing on the development of new chemical-inducible gene expression systems for plants, but soon I became engaged in trying to understand the molecular control of the cell cycle. Using at that time the novel yeast 2-hybrid approach I was able to identify in the pre-genome era novel important key cell cycle genes and functionally characterized them. At a second stage of my career I started to map the role of these genes in plant developmental and physiological processes, including the control of the endoreplication cycle and the way plants adjust their cell cycle in response to DNA damage-inducing stresses. More recently we identified unique plant cell cycle regulators that are important in the gain of stem cell identity and study how these regulators help plants to regenerate from tissue damage. In parallel, in the frame on an intra-university collaboration we studied the cell cycle of diatoms, being are a major group of microalgae found in the oceans, waterways and soils.
 
During my late pre-doc and early post-doc career, I briefly spend time is the research facilities of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London (Prof P. Nurse) and the INRA Centre Versailles (Prof. D. Bouchez) to study the effect of plant cell cycle gene expression in yeast and to isolate T-DNA insertion mutants in cell cycle genes, respectively.
 
In 2008, I became professor at the Ghent University in the currently named Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. This department is also embedded in the VIB Center of Plant Systems Biology of the VIB. Since 2002, I am appointed full-time principal investigator of the Cell Cycle group at VIB. In my group, we still study the molecular mechanisms that drive plant regeneration following wounding or DNA damage-inflicted damage, where we expanded our knowledge from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to other plant species, including Marchantia polymorpha, maize and poplar. 
 

My research career started in 2001 at Ghent University. I initially focused on the regulation of cytokinesis, more specifically, how plants determine quite early during the cell cycle, where the new cell wall that divides both daughter cells will be constructed. The initial fluorescence-based localization screen that I performed in tobacco BY-2 cells revealed several new proteins that were specifically recruited to the forming cell plate. We are now 20 years later, yet one of those proteins that I initially identified then is still the cornerstone of my current research.
After my PhD in 2006, I joined the newly established lab of Eugenia Russinova at the Department of Plant Systems Biology (PSB VIB/UGent) as a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation of Flanders (FWO), working on the role of the alpha-type aurora kinases in cell plate orientation during the first asymmetric divisions leading to the formation of lateral root primordia. I consider myself very lucky that already at a very early point in my career, I was allowed to independently pursue my own project. My longstanding collaboration with the group of Geert De Jaeger (PSB VIB/UGent) was initiated during my second postdoctoral term as an FWO fellow. Together, we embarked on a joint PhD project that combined interactomics via tandem affinity purification on a set of bait proteins from my original localization screen, with live cell imaging in planta.  The results from this collaboration allowed me to create my niche research that continues until today as it was then that we discovered the existence of the TPLATE complex and its crucial role in plant endocytosis.
After my second postdoctoral term, I successfully applied for the position as expert scientist for live cell imaging that was opened at the Center for Plant Systems Biology. This position served to provide expertise, experimental design, acquisition and maintenance as well as practical assistance to the researchers at PSB for all aspects of fluorescence-based live cell imaging. At the same time, it provided me with the necessary time to finalize the dissection of the role of our newly discovered endocytic complex. I am still very proud that the discovery of the existence of this evolutionary ancient multi-protein complex was made in plants first, albeit only a few months in advance of the publication characterizing this complex in slime moulds.
The structural and functional elucidation of the process of endocytosis in plants was the topic of my LS3 ERC Consolidator Grant, which I obtained in 2016. That year, I also became associate professor at Ghent University, in the Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics as well as Principle Investigator of advanced live cell imaging group at VIB. In 2018, I became full professor.
My current research focuses on the mechanistic regulation of how endocytosis modulates cellular communication by controlling the abundance of receptors and channels in its plasma membrane. We do this by combining interactomics as well as structural and cell biology on the endocytic machinery. Next to this, together with my microscopy expert, Evelien Mylle, I continue to provide assistance and maintenance of the light microscopy infrastructure of the Center.
Throughout my research career, and quite obvious from my publication record, I have always shared my initial data with the research community early on and actively reached out to other groups to pursue research collaborations. This approach allowed me to establish a broad and international network of colleagues to fall back on and the heterosis that is generated from the combined efforts of multiple labs significantly contributed to the quality of my research.