Recognizing Plant Cell first authors: Rafael Andrade Buono

Rafael Andrade Buono, co-first author of CRISPR-TSKO: A Technique for Efficient Mutagenesis in Specific Cell Types, Tissues, or Organs in Arabidopsis

Current Position: Postdoctoral fellow in the group of Dr. Moritz Nowack, VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology

Education: PhD in Botany from University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA

Non-scientific Interests: macro photography

Brief bio: During my biology studies at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Élder Antônio Sousa Paiva on understanding how specialized plant structures help mediate plant-insect interactions. It was intensive and rewarding work, and it opened my eyes to the intricacies of plant cell biology.  I then proceeded to the group of Dr. Marisa Otegui at UW-Madison were I got my PhD working on subcellular membrane and protein trafficking. The complexity of the work was fascinating, demanding constant learning of new skills and interaction with multiple research groups. Seeking new challenges, I joined the group of Dr. Moritz Nowack in Belgium. While we work on teasing apart the mechanisms of developmentally controlled programmed cell death in plants, we are constantly generating new tools to tackle our research questions. During this time, we developed a most enjoyable collaboration with the group of Dr. Thomas Jacobs in developing CRISPR-TSKO and are now applying it to our cell death research.