Van Dijck Lara

Van Dijck Lara - Postdoctoral fellow @ RHIZOSPHERE

Career path

Lara obtained her Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Ghent University in 2021, where she completed her Master’s thesis in the group of Prof. Anne Willems (Laboratory of Microbiology). After a 6 month internship in the biotic stress group at KWS (Germany), she joined the group of Prof. Jane Parker in April 2022 at the department of Prof. Paul Schulze-Lefert in the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne. As part of the DFG Priority Programme DECRyPT_2125, her PhD research focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying plant iron nutrition, centred on the interplay between plant root-derived coumarins and fungal endophytes. She obtained her PhD degree in October 2025. Since 2026, Lara is a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Sofie Goormachtig (VIB–UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology). Her current research explores innovative strategies to strengthen legume–rhizobium symbioses. This includes the development of plant signalling molecules derived from poultry proteins as seed treatments to enhance nitrogen fixation in crops such as soybean, in collaboration with the company STAMAGRO.

4. A Reductase from the Phytopathogenic Fungus Botrytis cinerea Degrades Plant Antimicrobial Coumarins to Promote Infection

Anthony S. Piro, Tak Lee, Silvina Perin, Lara Van Dijck, Jane E. Parker

(2026/09) - Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

DOI
3. Arabidopsis uses distinct coumarins and bacterial pathways for pH-adaptive iron acquisition

Milena Malisic, Charles Copeland, Anton Amrhein, Pengfan Zhang, Masayoshi Hashimoto, Christopher J. Harbort, Tak Lee, Yudelsy A. Tandron Moya, Lara Van Dijck, Niklas Kiel, Stanislav Kopriva, Sabine Metzger, Ruben Garrido-Oter, Ricardo F.H. Giehl, Paul Schulze-Lefert

(2026/10) - Cell

DOI
2. Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host-derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition

Lara Van Dijck, Dario Esposto, Charlotte Hülsmann, Milena Malisic, Anthony Piro, Ricardo F. H. Giehl, Gerd U. Balcke, Alain Tissier, Jane E. Parker

(2025/06) -

DOI
1. Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host‐derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition

Lara Van Dijck, Dario Esposto, Charlotte Huelsmann, Milena Malisic, Anthony Piro, Ricardo F. H. Giehl, Gerd U. Balcke, Alain Tissier, Jane E. Parker

(2025/10) - New Phytologist

DOI

Van Dijck Lara

Career path

A Reductase from the Phytopathogenic Fungus Botrytis cinerea Degrades Plant Antimicrobial Coumarins to Promote Infection4. A Reductase from the Phytopathogenic Fungus Botrytis cinerea Degrades Plant Antimicrobial Coumarins to Promote Infection

Arabidopsis uses distinct coumarins and bacterial pathways for pH-adaptive iron acquisition3. Arabidopsis uses distinct coumarins and bacterial pathways for pH-adaptive iron acquisition

Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host-derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition2. Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host-derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition

Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host‐derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition1. Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host‐derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition

4. A Reductase from the Phytopathogenic Fungus Botrytis cinerea Degrades Plant Antimicrobial Coumarins to Promote Infection

3. Arabidopsis uses distinct coumarins and bacterial pathways for pH-adaptive iron acquisition

2. Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host-derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition

1. Cooperation between a root fungal endophyte and host‐derived coumarin scopoletin mediates Arabidopsis iron nutrition