Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Said Hafidh

Said Hafidh, first author of Dynamics of Nicotiana tabacum pollen sequestrome defined by subcellular coupled omics

Current Position:  Research fellow, Institute of Experimental Botany (IEB), Prague

Education: BSc and PhD at the University of Leicester (2002-2009)

Non-scientific Interests: Cycling, football, micro photograph, music (house/afro beat/drums), a good PHO BO, road trips and part time hiking.

Brief bio: I entered the research field with a personal objective seeing my family struck by inherited genetic diseases. I enthusiastically thought I will help humanity by conquering genetic therapy, so I packed and headed to the UK. My BSc degree was in genetics and biochemistry, when I discovered plant genetics on what used to be the “ABC model”, I never looked back and my objective on gene therapy lives on!

I conducted my PhD in prof. David Twell’s laboratory (University of Leicester, UK) on mechanisms of sperm cell production in flowering plants. Currently I’m a research fellow in the laboratory of prof. David Honys (Institute of Experimental Botany, Prague, CZ). Here, I have been focusing to elucidate the alternative models of RNA storage in single cells. This mode of regulation interlinked with cell-cell communication of a single cell pathfinding towards unfertilized ovules in flowering plants. Through reverse approaches to detect secreted peptides, our laboratory is at the forefront to unveil the depth of post-transcriptional control beyond the cell borders.