Oxidative Stress Signalling

Patrick Willems obtained his master degree at Ghent University after plant studying cold stress signaling in plants during six months in the Vaughan Hurry lab in Umeå (Sweden). Afterwards, he continued studying plant abiotic stress signaling during his PhD in the oxidative stress signaling group of Frank Van Breusegem in collaboration with the proteomics group of Kris Gevaert. This led to multiple first-author papers and several co-authorships, mostly entailing integrative –OMICS analysis of transcriptome, proteome or other datasets. As a postdoctoral researcher, he was shortly active in the proteogenomic annotation of microbial species. More recently, he is focusing on studying post-translational modifications (PTMs) in plants. Recently published work on this topic incudes the characterization of S-sulfenylation at a site-specific level in Arabidopsis and the development of an integrative plant PTM database, ‘The Plant PTM Viewer’. The bridging theme in his research is the integration and interpretation of large (multi-)omics data to make new discoveries or help addressing specific biological research questions.

Mingjian Zhou obtained his bachelor degree in bioengineering at Jiangsu University of Science and Technology in China. He begins a continuous academic project that involves postgraduate and doctoral study on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Nanjing agricultural University from September 2020. He focused on the redox-based regulation of hydrogen sulfide and persulfidation and mechanisms of osmotic and drought tolerance in plants. He joined oxidative stress signaling research group of Professor Frank since November 2022 as a joined Ph.D. student and based the topic of “Thiol-Based Protection Mechanisms In Plant Stress Responses: From S-Sulfenylation To Persulfidation”.

PhD fellow

Simon Tack obtained his Bachelors in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Ghent (UGhent, Belgium). He stayed at UGhent to persue a Master in Molecular Plant Biology. During his Master-thesis he joined the VIB-UGhent 'Oxidative Stress Signaling' lab (led by Prof. Dr. F. Van Breusegem) where he focused on showing Metacaspase activity using FRET-based sensors under the guidance of Dr. A.D. Fernandez Fernandez and Prof. Dr. S. Stael. In November 2022 he joined the OSS lab as a PhD fellow and continues his efforts on showing protease activity in plants (Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica napus) under the direct supervision of Prof. Dr. Van Breusegem.

Lab manager

Robin Pottie graduated in 2017 as Bachelor in Biomedical Laboratory Technology at Odisee Technologycampus Gent. During his bachelor, he worked on a project for Dr. Simon Stael developing genetic and chemical tools to alter the calcium flux in chloroplasts. Afterwards he joined the Van Breusegem lab as a technician and later as lab manager. His main objectives are the support of the lab in general logistics, knowledge transfer, high throughput screens and proof of concept experiments.

Frank Van Breusegem obtained his Bachelor and Master degree at Ghent University. He is a group leader of the Oxidative Stress Signaling group at the VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology (since 2001); full professor at Ghent University and he recently was elected vice-chair of the Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University). Since his early studies under the supervision of em. Prof. Marc Van Montagu, he focuses on the molecular impact of oxidative stress on plant cells. He obtained his PhD from Ghent University (1997) with work on “Engineering Stress Tolerance in Maize”. Nowadays, the primary objective of the Van Breusegem lab is the identification and functional analysis of regulatory gene and protein networks involved in the oxidative stress response in plants. Ultimately, he aims to translate this knowledge into biotechnological crop efficiency concepts. The lab has played a pioneering role in determining H₂O₂-dependent molecular and physiological responses in plants. The Van Breusegem lab is internationally recognized mainly because of its successful multi-omics driven approaches that allowed to identify several key targets in the oxidative stress response. Frank Van Breusegem has published more than 150 peer-reviewed publications (Clarivate h-index=59), is a frequent invited speaker and is monitoring editor of the leading plant journal “Plant Physiology”.

Jawad has obtained his Master degree in Biotechnology from National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) PIEAS, Pakistan. He did his masters thesis at Microbial Ecology Lab under the supervision of Dr. Asma Imran, where he studied the molecular and genetic mechanisms of drought tolerance in bacteria to utilize their plant beneficial traits during plant-microbe interaction. In July 2022, he started his PhD research in the Oxidative Stress Signaling group of Prof. Dr. Frank Van Breusegem in the VIB-UGent Center for Plant System Biology. He is studying oxidative post-translational cysteine modifications using protein-based thiol traps.

Muhammad Iqbal obtained his bachelor degree in biochemistry and master degree in biotechnology from COMSATS university Islamabad, Abbottabad. He studied nutritional and genetic diversity of on-farm cultivated buckwheat plant by using SSR markers during his master degree program. He joined Oxidative stress signaling research group of  Professor Van Breusegem Lab since January 2022 for his doctoral program under the fellowship of HEC and UGent.