Recognizing Plant Physiology author Luca Morelli

Luca Morelli, first author of Light signals generated by vegetation shade facilitate acclimation to low light in shade-avoider plants

Current Position: pre-doctoral fellow with prof. Manuel Rodriguez-Concepcion at IBMCP research centre in Valencia

Education: Master’s degree in Plant and Microbe Biotechnology (University of Pisa), currently a PhD student in Plant Biology and Biotechnology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).

Non-scientific Interests: Traveling, sport, dancing and reading.

Brief bio: Before starting my PhD my main research experience was a joint project between the groups of prof. Lucia Guidi in Pisa and dr. Sonia Cruz in the University of Aveiro. Here I started to explore the functioning of photosynthetic processes and I developed my first skills in plant physiology.  I joined prof. Rodriguez-Concepcion laboratory in 2018 as a pre-doctoral student. The research interests of the group focus on carotenoid metabolism with a particular attention to chloroplast metabolism and my PhD work deals with a tool able to double the amount of valuable isoprenoids in leaves. During my work I have always tried to add a integrate my knowledges of plant physiology to the biotechnology and I kept learning new tools and new point of views. When prof. Jaume Martinez Garcia allowed me to collaborate in the research line of his group the first steps for this work took place, and through exploration and teamwork in the end we managed to build up a good story about how light quality signal is able to acclimate plants preparing them for future challenges.