Recognizing Plant Physiology authors: Alessandra Boccaccini

Alessandra Boccaccini, first author of Low blue light enhances phototropism by releasing cryptochrome 1-mediated inhibition of PIF4 expression

Current Position: Post-doctoral fellow at Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne

Education: Ph.D. in “Life Science”, Sapienza, University of Rome; MSc in Genetic and Molecular biology, Sapienza, University of Rome; BSc in Biology, Sapienza, University of Rome

Non-scientific Interests: dancing, reading books, and watching movies

Brief bio: I started my scientific career in the lab of Paola Vittorioso, Ph.D., and Prof. Paolo Costantino in Rome. My Ph.D. thesis project was focused on the characterization of a transcriptional factor involved in seed development and germination. In 2016, I joined the lab of Prof. Christian Fankhauser, in Lausanne, as post-doc. We were interested in elucidating the mechanism by which different photoreceptors integrate specific light signals to drive growth responses. The results of this project showed how Arabidopsis seedlings re-orientate their hypocotyls in presence of shaded environment, in a process mediated by cryptochrome 1 and Phytochrome Interacting Factor 4 (PIF4). In September 2019, I started a new project as MSCA fellow to study chromatin remodeling events triggered by shade in Arabidopsis.