Naomi obtained her master’s degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Ghent University in 2020. For her master’s thesis she performed an Erasmus exchange to the Sainsbury lab of Cambridge University (SLCU), where she worked on the role MtLSH1 and MtNOOT1/2 during early nodule organogenesis in Medicago truncatula within the group of Prof. Dr. Giles Oldroyd. Currently, Naomi is performing her PhD research (FWO-SB fellowship) at the Rhizosphere group of Prof. Dr. Sofie Goormachtig, this time shifting her focus to another symbiont: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). During her PhD, Naomi uses diverse single cell and -nuclei transcriptomics and proteomics approaches to obtain a better understanding of the immunity-related crosstalk occurring during the tomato-AMF symbiotic interaction.

I did my Master thesis at the Functional Interactomics group in 2019-2020. During this year, I explored the approach of mining the TOR-SnRK1 nutrient signalling network towards higher yielding and stress resilient plants via  combinatorial CRISPR screens. Intrigued by the research and encouraged by the warm atmosphere in the group, I decided to apply for an FWO-SB mandate in order to continue this quest and contribute to a more sustainable and climate robust agricultural system. When I am not in the lab, I am always eager to jump on my bike for a trip, enjoying nature and being inspired and ready for new challenges!

Afroditi obtained her Master’s degree in Advanced Experimental and Computational Biosciences at the University of Thessaly, Greece, in 2022, where she worked on plant-fungal transkingdom RNAi. During her studies she participated at the iGEM competition, a worldwide synthetic biology competition, as a team member in 2019, a team advisor at 2021 and a team instructor at 2022. In 2022, she moved to Belgium and joined the research group of Prof. Dr. Sofie Goormachtig and started a PhD (FWO fellowship) under the supervision of Dr. Sylwia Struk, at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology. Her research focuses on the interaction of nitrogen-fixing rhizobia and Soybean, and the regulation of the nodulation process. More specifically, her project concentrates on the final steps of the Autoregulation of Nodulation (AON) pathway and the Too Much Love (TML) genes of Soybean, and how they control nodulation.

Predoctoral fellow

Emma obtained her Master’s degree in Biochemistry-Biotechnology at Ghent University in 2022. For her Master thesis, she did an Erasmus exchange to Bremen University (Germany), where she worked on the interaction between rice and the endophyte Azoarcus olearius. After her studies, she started a PhD (FWO fellowship) in the research group of Prof. Dr. Sofie Goormachtig, under supervision of Dr. Sylwia Struk, at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology. Her PhD research concerns the interaction between soybean and nitrogen-fixing rhizobia, a symbiotic interaction which is called nodulation. In particular, she focuses on the regulation of nodulation and the receptor kinase NARK in this signalling pathway.

Marjon obtained her Master's degree in Biology at Ghent University in 2021. For her master thesis she worked in the lab of Sofie Goormachtig on the molecular pathways involved in the plant growth promoting effect of Caulobacter RHG1 on Arabidopsis thaliana. After her studies she started as assistant in the Rhizosphere group, conducting her PhD research under supervision of Dr. Sylwia Struk. Her research focusses on elucidating which proteins are involved in the autoregulation of nodulation pathway in Medicago truncatula.

I graduated in 2018 as a Master of Science in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at Ghent University, after which I performed my master thesis in the Rhizosphere group, investigating the function of parasitic KAI2 homologs in strigolactone signaling. In 2019, I then started my PhD to further unravel the KAI2 signaling pathway in Arabidopsis seeds and its role in seed germination, with a special interest in the function of the SMAX1 protein in all of this.