Recognizing Plant Physiology author Despina Samakovli

Despina Samakovli, co-first author of HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN 90 proteins and YODA regulate main body axis formation during early embryogenesis

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher in the group of Jozef Samaj in the Cell Biology Department of Palacký University Olomouc, the Czech Republic

Education: PhD in Plant Molecular Biology with Prof. Polydefkis Hatzopoulos in the Agricultural University of Athens, MSc in Applications of Agricultural Biotechnology in the Agricultural University of Athens

Non-scientific Interests: traveling, cooking

Brief bio: During my PhD studies in Athens, Greece, I was a member of a project focused on the role Heat Shock Proteins 90 on plant development. Later, during my postdoctoral research in Athens, I studied the involvement of HSP90 in hormonal signaling and especially brassinosteroid signaling. When I started my postdoctoral research in Palacky University of Olomouc, Czech Republic, we focused on the interplay between HSP90 and MAP kinases and how this affects different developmental events, such as stomatal ontogenesis and embryogenesis. This work provided strong evidence for the essential role of HSP90 in the regulation of complicated developmental circuits.