Recognizing Plant Cell first authors: Raul Huertas

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Raul Huertas, first author of Arabidopsis SmE1 regulates plant development and response to abiotic stress by determining spliceosome activity specificity

Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Noble Research Institute, Admore, Oklahoma, USA

Education: Ph.D. in Plant Science, Universidad de Granada (Spain); M.S. Agricultural Biology, Universidad de Granada (Spain); M.S. Biochemistry, National Autonomous University of Mexico (Mexico); B.Sc. Biochemistry, Universidad de Granada (Spain)

Non-scientific Interests: Outdoor sports, photography, reading, and traveling.

Brief bio: The accumulated experience working in different labs at the end of the degree awakened my interest in plant sciences. Since then, my scientific career has focused on characterizing the mechanisms underlying resilience to environmental stress and nutrient limitation stress, considered major constraints on global agricultural production. For this, I advocate the integration of basic, translational and applied science using both model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Medicago truncatula, and crops of agronomic interest such as tomato and alfalfa. Currently, in addition to using a multi-disciplinary approach ranging from physiological and biochemical measurements to the incorporation of transcriptomic and metabolomic studies, I am also incorporating advanced biotechnological (CRISPR-Cas9) and genomic (genome-wide association studies) tools with the aim to improve and inform future plant breeding programs.