Advisory Board and Editors Plant Genetics
Diaa Abd El-Moneim
My academic journey began with an MSc in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Suez Canal University, where my research focused on evaluating drought tolerance and disease resistance in wheat, providing a solid foundation in abiotic stress tolerance. This early work fueled my commitment to understanding and addressing plant resilience under stress conditions. Thanks to an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, I pursued my PhD at Complutense University of Madrid, where I investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying aluminum stress tolerance in rye. Notably, I was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship funded by AECID just before defending my thesis—a pivotal achievement that underscored the relevance of my research. This fellowship enabled me to join the National Center of Biotechnology (CNB) in Madrid. I gained expertise in proteomics, gene expression analysis, and molecular tool development to improve plant abiotic stress resilience. These experiences greatly expanded my knowledge of gene regulation and stress physiology and led to high-impact publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Abd El Moneim’s research encompasses multiple domains, including the study of morphological , physiological, and molecular mechanisms that govern plant responses to stress factors such as salinity, drought , aluminum toxicity, heat, and pathogens. His work in identifying gene families and stress-responsive proteins is complemented by his efforts to apply DNA barcoding and chloroplast genomic assemblies for species identification and development of molecular markers, as well as contributing to taxonomical and evolutionary concepts and identifying transcriptional regulators critical for stress adaptation, with particular emphasis on crops like wheat and wild plants adapted to extreme environments. His methodologies include designing and analyzing field trials , protein analysis, nucleic acid extraction, fingerprinting , GWAS , and the characterization of chloroplast genomes. Dr. Abd El Moneim’s expertise in molecular breeding and genomics focuses on improving abiotic stress tolerance in staple crops, especially for agriculture in developing countries.
Ornella Calderini
I have a PhD from the University of Vienna, Austria, on plant MAP kinase signalling. Currently I am a staff scientist of the National Research Council at the Institute of Bioscience and Bioresources in Italy. I am curating a mutant collection of the model specie Medicago truncatula. I am using different approaches to understand gene function in several aspects of plant science (e.g development, synthesis of secondary compounds). I have an interest in characterization and valorization of local plant genetic resources.
Natasha de Vere
Head of Conservation and Research at the National Botanic Garden of Wales and Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University.
Sònia Garcia
My research is mainly directed towards understanding processes involved in plant genome evolution and organisation, from the sequence to the whole genome. Three areas are highlighted: the study of the evolution of genome size; the structure, organisation and function of ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) and telomere repeats, and the role of polyploidy and transposable elements (TE) in genome evolution. I have advanced these fields by: (1) the discovery of a novel arrangement of rDNA, first in several Asteraceae and later extended to gymnosperms, (2) the discovery of new telomere sequences in several organisms and (3) the launch and updating of four genomic databases, one compiling Asteraceae genome sizes; the next, on the number and distribution of rDNA sites in plant chromosomes; the following on the distribution of B chromosomes across biodiversity, and the most recent one on plant sex chromosomes. I am the PI of a project on the role of ribosomal DNA in evolution, including the analyses of the repeatome. I was recently involved in a project to examine the role of TE in the evolution of non-model plants and I also participate in a project on the origin and varieties of Cannabis. Beyond this, last year I started an initiative in my Institute to stress the role of women in science, by a series of conferences explaining the biographies and discoveries of relevant scientists in the fields of botany, genetics and genomics, both to the specialised and general public.
Camilla B Hill
Dr Camilla Hill was awarded a Ph.D. in crop biochemistry and genetics (2014) from the University of Melbourne (Australia). Her main areas of expertise are plant genetics and genomics, analytical plant biochemistry, plant phenology and plant stress physiology. She has a strong background in using molecular and quantitative genetics as well as genomics technologies (metabolomics, next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics) to understand the impact of environmental stresses on plant growth, development, and grain yield potential.
Charles D Johnson
Dr. Johnson earned his BS and PhD from Texas A&M University, with an intermediate MS degree from Clemson University. He completed a postdoc at the University of Louisville, leading to his role as associate director of bioinformatics for the Center for Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the same institution. He played a foundational role in creating the statistics and bioinformatics division at Ambion/Asuragen Inc. Following this, Dr. Johnson founded BioMath Solutions LLC, a bioinformatics-focused startup specializing in software development for genomic technology firms.
Presently, Dr. Johnson serves as the Director of Genomics and Bioinformatics Service at Texas A&M AgriLife.
Tong Geon Lee
Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics, Corn, Tomato, Soybean, Wheat-Rye Translocation
Charlotte Lindqvist
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo 2010-present; Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Associate, University of Oslo 2003-2008; PhD, University of Copenhagen 2003.
Julin N Maloof
Professor of Plant Biology and member of the Genome Center, University of California, Davis.
Elected Fellow, AAAS
Postdoctoral training at The Salk Institute. Doctoral Training at UCSF
Boyd A Mori
Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Ecological Entomology in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta.
Research in our lab focuses on varying aspects of insects in agricultural systems. Our focal areas of research include chemical ecology, population genetics, and insect-plant interactions. We use a variety of techniques from field and laboratory bioassays to transcriptomics and genomics to examine basic and applied ecological questions.
Sushma Naithani
Sushma Naithani is an Associate Professor Senior Research in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University, USA. The current focus of her research is on understanding information flow in living systems and how evolution shapes this flow using systems-level pathway modeling supported by high-quality biocuration, gene-orthology-based predictions, and analysis of omics data. She serves as a senior curator for the Plant Reactome knowledgebase. Sushma has authored 31 peer-reviewed refereed research articles in high-impact journals, including Nature, Nature Biotech, PNAS, etc. One of her research papers has been selected by the 'Faculty of 1000 Biology'. In addition, she has authored six book chapters and one Open Textbook (S. Naithani (2021): History and Science of Cultivated Plants published by Oregon State University Open Educational Resources, EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-955101-08-0, available at https://open.oregonstate.education/cultivatedplants). She is also an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Plant Science-Plant Biotechnology and served as the Editor-in-chief of the Current Plant Biology (2017-2023).
Nikolaos Nikoloudakis
Dr. Nikolaos Nikoloudakis is an Assistant Professor at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). He graduated (2002) from the Agricultural Biotechnology Department of the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) and has a MSc in the field of plant biotechnology (2005). He obtained his PhD at the Plant Breeding and Biometry Laboratory (AUA) caring out research involving phylogenetic relationships of Avena species and the study of intergenomic modifications using interspecific hybrids of different ploidy levels (2009). Furthermore, he was a post-doc researcher and a special teaching staff at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science (ABF) of the Cyprus University of Technology (2017-2022). He has also served as a technical manager of the national reference laboratories of the Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food, regarding GMO detection in seed lots and the control of pathogenic viruses in plant reproductive material (2011-2016). He has contributed to the formation of research networks as a partner from CUT in several national and European projects and participates in several funded research projects (Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, Prima, RIF and ECPGR). His main research interests are agricultural biotechnology, plant genetic resources, genotyping, and flow cytometry.