My research career has focused on the central biological question: How do growth processes determine final plant organ size? Initially, I approached this using molecular biology studying Arabidopsis leaf development. As my interest shifted towards applied research, I redirected my focus to maize. What started as translational research to bring knowledge from Arabidopsis to crops and from the lab to the field, gradually developed into a research line with the goal to decipher the instructor networks that govern leaf size, organ growth and ultimately yield in maize. Because plant organ size control is an important yield component that is also severely impacted by climate change, our ultimate goal is to deepen our understanding of the growth-regulatory networks to enhance our success rate to achieve climate-resilient crops.
 
As lecturer of ‘Plant Research Technologies’ and ‘Plant Yield’ within the Advanced Master in Plant Biotechnology, I get the opportunity to enthuse Master students about the possibilities of plant biotechnology to change agriculture.
 
My team and I set out to create an inclusive atmosphere that stimulates critical thinking, creativity, team work, personal development, job satisfaction, personal fulfillment, mutual respect, scientific transparency and research ethics.
 
 
 
 

Annelore Natran started her studies at HoGent campus Vesalius in 2013. She studied Biomedical Laboratory Technology. In her last year, she did her internship in the lab of Dirk Inzé, where she also wrote her bachelor's thesis.
In 2016, Annelore graduated and she also gained her first work experience in the Systems Biology of Yield lab. She mainly works on phenotypic and genotypic techniques with Arabidopsis but also has some experience with maize plants.
In 2020, she joined the group of Yves Van de Peer to work on Spirodela.

Geert De Jaeger is full professor in Plant Biotechnology at Ghent University and Group leader at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology where he leads a research group on Functional Interactomics. De Jaeger's technology driven research team obtained high visibility in the plant research field with their state of the art AP-MS/PL-MS platform that maps protein interaction networks in plants. He recently started the exploration of nutrient (C/N) signaling around the central metabolic regulators TOR and SnRK1, with the aim to generate new approaches that contributes towards a more sustainable agriculture.

Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Nataliia has completed her Bachelor and Master studies at Queen Mary University and Imperial University London, respectively, with a focus on plant molecular and synthetic biology. For her PhD, she has moved to the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria to the group of Professor Luschnig to decipher the mechanisms controlling protein polarity in the root. Driven by the interest of understanding mechanisms guiding polarity, currently Nataliia is focused on studying the process of oriented cell divisions in Professor De Rybel's group.

My name is Yasmine and I am a post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Hilde Nelissen. In 2019, I obtained a master degree in biochemical engineering technology at Ghent University. I carried out my master dissertation in the Crop Genome Engineering Facility of Laurens Pauwels, where I investigated methods to enhance transformation efficiency in maize by using morphogenic regulators. Additionally, I also explored mutagenesis via transgenerational CRISPR-Cas9 activity. Afterwards, I obtained a VLAIO grant to start my PhD in the Bio-Energy and Bio-Aromatics group of Wout Boerjan, in collaboration with an industrial partner. During my doctoral research, I studied the CCR gene family of the lignin pathway to improve biomass processability for animal feed and biofuel production in maize. This involved generating gene-edited maize lines, followed by evaluation under greenhouse and field conditions. In January 2024, I joined the Plant Growth Dynamics lab of Hilde Nelissen to work on the EU-funded BOOSTER project. Our objective is to develop strategies to improve drought tolerance in maize and teff. My role involves bioinformatic analyses and multiplex genome editing to target cis-elements in non-coding genomic regions associated with drought response. My academic training and industrial exposure have provided me with a robust skill set in molecular biology, genome engineering, cell wall analysis, digestibility testing and phenotyping. I am particularly passionate about exploiting these modern breeding methods to accelerate crop improvement and translating these advancements into practical applications through field trials. What I like most about my job is that I’m part of a fantastic scientific community and the ability to work from lab-based research to field experiments.