The Plant Cell Features October First Authors
Behind those manuscripts are researchers, professors, professionals and students dedicated to advancing the field of plant science. You’ve seen our First Authors on Twitter and Facebook— now, read more about why they chose to pursue plant sciences and click on the links to read their articles.
Yi Peng Wang
Yi Peng Wang (he/him) is a First Author of The RPT2a–MET1 axis regulates TERMINAL FLOWER1 to control inflorescence meristem indeterminacy in Arabidopsis published 05 October 2023. Wang is currently at Shandong Agricultural University. In 2016, he earned a BSc in Bioengineering at Shandong Agricultural University. Research interests include Plant development. Personal interests include basketball, traveling. Wang loves agricultural and rural farmers and farmlands.
Wang Jinsong Yao
Wang Jinsong Yao is a First Author of The RPT2a–MET1 axis regulates TERMINAL FLOWER1 to control inflorescence meristem indeterminacy in Arabidopsis published 05 October 2023. Currently, Yaois is a postdoctor at Shandong Agricultural University. In 2020, Yaois earned a Ph.D in Developmental Biology at Shandong Agricultural University and in 2013, a BSc in Biological Sciences at Shandong Agricultural University. Research interests include plant development. Personal interests include Shopping, Cooking, and Football.
Hao Wu
Hao Wu (He/His) is the First Author of NAKED ENDOSPERM 1, NAKED ENDOSPERM 2 and OPAQUE 2 Interact to Regulate Gene Networks in Maize Endosperm Development published 05 October 2023. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Cornell University. In 2015, Wu earned a Ph.D. in Biology at Baylor University; in 2010, he earned a Bsc in Biotechnology at Hebei University. Research interests include Plant developmental biology. Personal interests include ACG (Animation, Comic and Game), music and cooking.
Wu loves diverse patterns of flowers, leaves and seeds. “They are so amazing! I want to know how these patterns are established and maintained,” he said.
Yan Chun
Yan Chun (he/him) is the First Author of The cytokinin receptor OHK4/OsHK4 regulates inflorescence architecture in rice via an IDEAL PLANT ARCHITECTURE1/WFP-mediated positive feedback circuit published October 9 2023. He is currently a post-doc researcher at Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.In 2021, Chun received a Ph.D in Crop Genetics and Breeding at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In 2014, he received a BSc in Agronomy at Sichuan Agricultural University. Research interests include Plant development and Cytokinins. Personal interests include reading and cooking.
In 2014, Chun joined Prof. Xueyong Li’s lab to study the molecular and genetic functions of genes related to rice yield, such as grain size and panicle architecture. After completing a Ph.D., he continued working in Prof. Li’s lab as a post-doc researcher. Over the years, Prof. Li has provided Chun with invaluable guidance, enabling him to acquire extensive knowledge about plant science and develop a genuine interest in it.
Jingjing Fang
Jingjing Fang (she/her) is the First Author of The cytokinin receptor OHK4/OsHK4 regulates inflorescence architecture in rice via an IDEAL PLANT ARCHITECTURE1/WFP-mediated positive feedback circuit published 09 October 2023. She is currently an associate professor at Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. She earned a Ph.D at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing in 2012.
Research interests include Molecular basis of important yield traits of rice. Personal interests include hiking and traveling. After getting her doctor degree from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fang was luckily engaged in professor Li Xueyong’s group of the Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Professor Li Xueyong’s rigorous and diligent work attitude, as well as diverse rice mutants with different phenotypes in his lab inspired her enthusiasm for rice research. Plant-height controlling gene STD1 and leaf shape regulatory gene URL1 were cloned successively in rice, and their functional mechanisms were further analyzed. At present, Fang mainly focuses on dissecting the genetic and molecular mechanisms of important yield traits of rice and looks forward to discovering more genes and interesting molecular phenomena in the future.
Oded Skaliter
Oded Skaliter (he/his) is the First Author of The R2R3-MYB transcription factor EVER controls the emission of petunia floral volatiles by regulating epicuticular wax biosynthesis in the petal epidermis published 11 October 2023. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2017, Skaliterrecieved a MSc in Plant Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2015, he earned BSc in Plant Science and Biotechnology also from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Research interests include Specialized metabolism. Personal interests include swimming, hiking, and listening to music. His maternal grandfather was also a plant scientist!
Diana Gomez De La Cruz
Diana Gomez De La Cruz (she/her) is a First Author of Barley MLA3 recognizes the host-specificity effector Pwl2 from Magnaporthe oryzae published 11 October 2023. She is currently a Postdoctoral scientist at The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich UK. She holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the The Sainsbury Laboratory – University of East Anglia, Norwich UK. She also holds a MSc in Biological Sciences and BSc in Microbiology from the Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia. Research interests include plant immunity, plant-microbe interactions and effector biology. Personal interests include Bodypump, hiking, food, traveling, and drawing.
Diana Gomez De La Cruz became interested in plant science when she took an undergrad class on molecular plant-microbe interactions. Ever since, she has been fascinated by the evolutionary arms race between plants and pathogens, and always had the fortune of having great mentors fuelling my interest in plant immunity.
Helen Brabham
Helen Brabham (she/her) is a First Author of Barley MLA3 recognizes the host-specificity effector Pwl2 from Magnaporthe oryzae published 11 October 2023. Currently, she is Team Lead at 2Blades at The Sainsbury Laboratory. She earned a Ph.D in Biological Sciences UEA in 2020. Brabham earned a BSc in Biology from the University of Bristol in 2014. Research interests include plant-microbe interactions, disease resistance, and applied research. Personal interests include music, yoga, gym, and reading.
Brabham became interested in plant sciences during enthusiastic plant disease lectures during her BSc. Continuing that interest to her PhD, she joined 2Blades and was driven towards applying scientific discoveries to field solutions.
Tingting Wang
Tingting Wang (she/her) is the First Author of The transcription factor MYB110 regulates plant height, lodging resistance, and grain yield in rice published 17 October 2023. Currently, she is a Doctor at National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University. In 2015, Wang earned a Ph.D in Plant Nutrition at Nanjing Agricultural University. In 2011, she earned a BSc in Biotechnology at Jiangsu University of Science and Technology. Research interests include Plant nutrition, Plant height and Plant development. Personal interests include playing piano and running.
“Unlike animals, plants have no nervous system but show very rapid responses to changes in their surroundings. Plants cannot speak and communicate with the outside world through many growth changes. It is a very interesting topic to explore how plants adapt to the environment, and my tutor Professor Xu Guohua has given me a lot of help in this process,” said Wang on why she studies plant sciences.
Li Huang
Li Huang (she/her) is the First Author of HOOKLESS1 acetylates AUTOPHAGY-RELATED PROTEIN18a to promote autophagy during nutrient starvation in Arabidopsis published 12 October 2023. She is currently a Senior Research Scholar at Southern University of Science and Technology. She holds a Ph.D from the School of Life Sciences at Sun Yat-Sen University (2017) and a BSA from the College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology at Lanzhou University (2012). Research interests include Abiotic stress, Autophagy, and Posttranslational modification. Personal interests include table tennis and traveling.
Huang loves plants because they play important and irreplaceable roles in every aspect of human life, and plant science research may uncover the intrinsic mechanisms of biological processes and help us better understand the mysteries of life.
Baolei Zhang
Baolei Zhang (He) is the First Author of Small peptide OsCIF1/2 signaling mediates Casparian strip formation at the root endodermal and non-endodermal cell layers in rice published 17 October 2023. He is currently a PhD student at Guangxi University in China. In 2019, he received a MSc in Biochemistry and molecular biology at Guangxi University; in 2015, he received a BSc at Shandong University of Science and Technology. Research interests include Casparian strip formation. Personal interests include Table tennis and Reading.
Since joining Prof. Jixing Xia’s Lab to investigate the mechanism and function of Casparian strip formation in rice roots, Zhang became more interested in plant science. He is excited and full of passion especially when he obtains new findings. Zhang benefited a lot from this study. Next, he will continue to investigate the molecular mechanism of Casparian strip formation in rice.
Penghui Huang
Penghui Huang (he) is the First Author of The nuclear pore Y-complex functions as a platform for transcriptional regulation of FLOWERING LOCUS C in Arabidopsis published 25 October 2023. He is currently a Postdoctoral fellow at Zhejiang lab. In 2022, he earned a Ph.D in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In 2015, he earned a BSc in Biological Sciences at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University.
Huang’s research interests include Flowering time. Personal interests include playing basketball and swimming. Huang became interested in plant sciences because they bring the beauty of nature and life to human beings.
Mathilde Chopy
Mathilde Chopy (she/her) is the First Author of Cell layer-specific expression of the homeotic MADS-box transcription factor PhDEF contributes to modular petal morphogenesis in petunia published 06 October 2023. She is an Engineer in molecular pathology at Institut Bergonie (France, Bordeaux). In 2023, Chopy earned a Postdoc at Bern University. She received her PhD in 2019, studying Flower development at the Laboratory of Plant Development and Reproduction, ENS Lyon. Chopy also holds a MSc in Biology and Biotechnology of Plants from Bordeaux University (2016). Research interests include flower development, and personal interests include ballet and salsa. Her interest in plant science started the day she discovered that you can regenerate plants from leaf tissues. Plant in vitro culture is fascinating!
Sara Rosa-Téllez
Sara Rosa-Téllez is a First Author of The Serine-Glycine-One-Carbon metabolic network orchestrates changes in nitrogen and sulfur metabolism and shapes plant development published 06 October 2023. Education background include a 2016 Ph.D in Biotechnology at Valencia University, Spain; a 2010 MSc in Biotechnology, Granada University, Spain; a 2010 BSc in Food Science and Technology, Granada University, Spain; and a 2006 BSc in Biology, Granada University, Spain. Research interests include Photorespiration, Sulfur and Nitrogen metabolism, Climate change, and legumes. Personal interests include hiking, snorkeling, gardening, futsal and indie music. Sara studies plant science because plant science is at the heart of sustainable agriculture, ensuring a thriving future for the coming generations.
Andrea Alcántara Enguídanos
Andrea Alcántara Enguídanos (she/her) is a First Author of The Serine-Glycine-One-Carbon metabolic network orchestrates changes in nitrogen and sulfur metabolism and shapes plant development published 06 October 2023. She is currently a PhD Student in Biomedicine and Biotechnology at University Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (University of València). Her education background includes an MSc Research in Molecular, Cellular and Genetics Biology at University of València in 2019 and a BSc Biology at University of València in 2018. Research interests include how metabolic reprogramming can impact a plant’s resilience to cope with biotic and abiotic stresses in the context of climate change. Personal interests include futsal, roller skating, traveling and outdoor activities.
Andrea credits her fascination for plant science to her PhD supervisor Dr. Sara Rosa-Téllez, who demonstrated metabolism’s potency and its influence on plant adaptability.
