Advisory Board and Editors Plant Evolution
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.
Francisco Balao
Francisco Balao is associate lecture of Plant Biology at the University of Seville; Past post-doc Marie-Curie fellow in the Department of Plant Systematics at the University of Vienna.
Research interests are mainly focused on how plant genomes interact with its environment across ecological and evolutionary timescale. We try to elucidate the mechanistic bases of the biodiversity through studies of molecular phylogenetics and phylogenomics, phylogeography, cytogenetics, ecophysiology, transcriptomics and reproductive biology.
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.
Douglas S Domingues
I am an Assistant Professor in Plant Molecular Genetics at the "Luiz de Queiroz" College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Brazil. My main interests are devoted to understanding gene and genome evolution in plants, working on genome-wide analyses, including transcriptional analyses of gene families relevant to plant metabolism, RNA-seq analyses in plants, as well as studies on non-coding RNAs and transposable elements.
Luis E Eguiarte
Professor of the Evolutionary Ecology Department at the Institute of Ecology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Antonio Flores-Moya
Full Professor (Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Universidad de Málaga, Spain) from 2008. My PhD thesis (1993) was focused on deep-water like-kelp populations at the Strait of Gibraltar. Later, I focused on ecophysiology and taxonomy of seaweeds from southern Iberian Peninsula. In 2002, I started a new research line focused on experimental evolution of photosynthetic microorganisms. I have had stays in several institutions in France (Laboratoire Arago, Université Paris VI), Sweden (Upssala Universitet), England (Robert Hill Institute, University of Sheffield), Germany (Alfred Wegener Institute für Polar und Meeresforschung), Japan (Kobe University Research Center for Inland Seas) and Australia (Australian Institute for Marine Science), and two expeditions to Antarctica.
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.
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.
Mar Sobral
Spanish Evolutionary Ecologist. Formerly at Stanford (US) and CNRS (France). Now at USC (Spain).
My research looks at the evolutionary ecology of plant-animal interactions and the impact of global change on biodiversity, particularly regarding ecosystem functions and services such as carbon storage.
Jana M U'Ren
Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University. PhD in Plant Pathology and Microbiology from The University of Arizona. Research focus on the ecology and evolution of fungal endophytes.
Jana Vamosi
I am a biodiversity scientist examining the macroevolution, macroecology, community ecology, and conservation biology of plants. I often incorporate phylogenetic approaches to questions pertaining to the evolutionary ecology of plant-insect interactions.
Michael Wink
Prof. Dr. Michael Wink is Professor of Biology and Director at the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology of Heidelberg University; Head of Biology Department (1989-2019). Senior professor since 2019. Editor of Diversity, Biotechnology Journal and Journal of Ornithology. Member of several editorial boards and scientific societies. Author of over 20 books and over 900 original peer-reviewed publications.