Mathias Cohen - Predoctoral fellow

Mathias Cohen graduated in 2012 as Expert in Biotechnology Engineering from Sup’Biotech, Villejuif (France). Then he obtained a Master in Biology, with a specialization in molecular and cellular biology, at the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) in 2017. During this research master, he worked in the group of Peter Moffett, that focuses on the study of the plant innate immune system. He studied the translational control of Arabidopsis thaliana genes in the specific context of the Effector-Triggered Immunity, as well as the molecular mechanisms governing processing bodies formation during plant-virus interactions. In 2018, he started to work as an engineer in the lab of Isabelle Jupin, in the Institut Jacques Monod, Paris (France). His work concerned the study of plant-pathogen interactions between Arabidopsis thaliana and the Turnip Yellow Mosaic Virus. In October 2020, he started a joint PhD between the CCARS group of Pr. Graham Noctor (Climate Change and Redox Signaling, IPS2, Universite Paris-Saclay, France) and the OSS group of Pr. Frank Van Breusegem (Oxidative Stress Signaling, PSB, VIB-UGent, Belgium). The topic of his PhD is the elucidation of the mechanisms in play in the activation of the salicylic acid pathway by environmental and redox factors in Arabidopsis thaliana.

"Hi all, I’m Griet Coussens and live with my husband and kids in Wielsbeke. In my free time I like walking, biking and running. But I also enjoy working in the garden, and harvesting some home-grown vegetables, it gives me energy. In 2006, I finished my studies Bachelor Agro and Biotechnology at VIVES Roeselare after I did my thesis in the lab of Marcelle Holsters at PSB. In september of that year I started working for 4 months at LEGEST (UGent; Lab of Guy Haegheman) but I came back to the ‘roots’ in January 2007 and started working in the lab of Mieke Van Lijsebettens to set up the maize transformation platform at PSB. After 2 years of trial and error - in the meantime Stijn Aesaert also joined the team - we were very happy with our first transgenic maize plant. From then on we started to set up a transformation facility for PSB researchers. We worked together with groups in the Center and other labs in Europe. In 2017, Laurens Pauwels, joined our team and took over the lead from Mieke. Till now, we are writing a successful transformation story. With customers around the world. In all these years, methods were improved a lot with the techniques still changing and making our work challenging. For example, we introduced digital PCR as a method in the lab, which I'm developing and coordinating. Most important over all these years: I still love the job and the team!"

Büşra is interested in biological sciences. After obtaining her Bachelor’s degree at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, she continued her studies in Belgium and finished a Master’s degree in molecular biology at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). During her studies, she discovered her passion about plant growth and decided further studying on plants. Her master thesis was based on a growth-promoting cytochrome P450 78A in maize and following that she started her PhD project at PSB. Currently, she is focusing on unraveling the enzymatic reaction and transcriptional regulation of this cytochrome P450 78A and working at the automated phenotyping platform Phenovision.

Postdoctoral Fellow

I am working to understand the role of proteostasis machinery in JA signaling that regulate plant stress responses. Outside of work, I enjoy yoga, bouldering, reading and nature.