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Our Team

Our team is part of the Laboratory of Plant Physiology and the Wageningen Seed Science Centre from Wageningen University & Research.

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Mariana Silva Artur 

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Assistant Professor

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Asif Ahmed Sami

PhD candidate

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Lars Bakermans

PhD candidate

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Hylke Schakel

MSc Student

Mariana did her PhD at the Laboratory of Plant Physiology of Wageningen University & Research, where she studied the evolution, structure and function of LEA proteins from seeds and the resurrection plant Xerophyta schlechteri (a.k.a X. viscosa). She then did a postdoc at Utrecht University, and investigated development and drought responses of tomato root exodermis in the group of Dr. Kaisa Kajala. In 2020, Mariana was appointed as a postdoc in the Seeds for the Future Initiative of the Wageningen Seed Science Centre in the group of Prof. Leónie Bentsink to bridge fundamental and applied seed research, teaching and mentoring. She was awarded with a personal grant (NWO-ENW Veni grant, 2020) and started to develop her research group on plant desiccation tolerance. Her main interest in on the evolution and regulation of mechanisms involved in plant tolerance to (extreme) water loss.

Asif started his PhD in September, 2021 and he is working on the project 'Fine drying: seed preparation for the dry state' where he is investigating physiological and evolutionary aspects of desiccation tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds.

Lars started his PhD in September, 2023 on the HEAT projects (NWO, OTP) where he is investigating how high temperature during seed maturation affects seed quality in Arabidopsis and tomato.

Hylke is doing his MSc thesis in Plant Sciences from Sep, 2024 - Mar, 2025. His project aims at investigating the role of drying on LEA proteins expression and localization in seeds.

Former group members:

  • Marthe Lamain. MSc in Plant Sciences, WUR. Thesis title: The effect of different drying rates on chlorphyll degradation in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds. Oct, 2023 - Mar, 2024.

  • Anne de Wilde. BSc in Biology, WUR. Thesis title: Variation in the effects of desiccation during seed germination in different Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes. Sep, 2023 - Jan, 2024.

  • Wies Bos. BSc in Biology, WUR. Thesis title: The loss of desiccation tolerance in seeds of different Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes. Oct, 2022 - Feb, 2023.

  • Anan Hu, MSc. in Bioinformatics, WUR. Thesis title: Exploring the origin and evolution ofdesiccation tolerance in plants using comparative transcriptomics. Jul, 2022 - Jan, 2023 (Co-supervisor: Harm Nijveen, Bioinformatics, WUR).

  • Julia Damen. MSc in Plant Biotechnology, WUR. Thesis title: Transcriptional and translational regulation of LEA proteins during Arabidopsis thaliana seed development & germination. Mar-Sep, 2022.

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