Eliza combines her enthusiasm for plant-microbes interactions and interdisciplinary science framework in her current research. She integrates knowledge and methodologies from molecular biology, genetics, plant-microbial ecology, and plant physiology to better understand pathogen infection strategies, and plant defence mechanisms to develop elite broad-spectrum resistant plants.

A big question that has been with me for a long time is how we can help people to better deal with the effects of climate change. As bacterial diseases have an increasing impact on global food security due to emerging global changes, it is important to use new breeding methods to protect crops and staple foods from the devastating effects caused by diseases. I have the opportunity to coordinate a team of scientists who are focusing on this very issue and therefore enabling stable harvests for small scale producer. Here I function as an important interface between administration and science

Yugander is a plant biotechnologist and rice molecular pathologist. His main aim is to study the role of SWEETs as susceptibility factors in a wide range of rice diseases with the goal of developing broad spectrum and durable resistance. He is deploying genome editing tools, as innovative breeding approaches to combine higher yield QTLs in African and Asian rice cultivars to boost small scale farmers in rice cultivation. He is further involved in molecular rice breeding and already developed four rice verities carrying disease resistances, low phosphorus resistances and hybrid rice parental lines, respectively.

Kirill is a molecular biologist and biotechnologist whose main research interests center on interaction between plants and their pathogens. He is focused on elimination of host's susceptibility genes that are hijacked by a pathogen to reinforce its virulence. He deploys novel genome editing tools and advanced breeding methods to engineer durable and broad resistance against numerous rice pathogens.

Hanna is a biotechnologist and plant phytopathologist. She studies the pathocomplex of the bacterial leaf streak disease caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola (Xoc). The aim of her research is to investigate the role of rice SWEET proteins during Xoc infection.

I work with rice and its pathogens Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae responsible for bacterial leaf blight. I am involved in the main project of the rice team, which is engineering bacterial blight resistant rice using genome editing. I developed and optimized Agrobacterium-mediated transformation protocols for japonica and indica rice varieties. I do genotyping and phenotyping of genome edited lines as well as screening for transgene-free lines. Besides, I am also a lab manager, I help organizing the lab to keep everything running and support other team members.

I am a lab technician and manager. I am involved in the organizational, molecular biology and tissue culture works in the Rice team. My works focus on the development of T-DNA-free genome editing in rice which can be used for developing plants that are resistant against pathogens and better adapted to the changing environment. Currently, I am establishing rice cell suspension culture, develop protocols for rice protoplast regeneration and haploid induction using anther cultivation. I take care of chemical ordering, seed amplification, seed stock organization and other lab tasks.

Nora is fascinated by the infection process of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) in rice. In her research she characterizes the basic principles and molecular mechanisms of a successful infection by Xoo during Bacterial Blight. She aims to get a better understanding of host-pathogen interaction during the disease.

Laura focuses on the transcriptional regulation of the sugar transport in rice and how pathogens manipulate it. To tackle her research questions, she uses her expertise in confocal microscopy and data analysis by R coding. In her Bachelor‘s, she gained experience in applied plant sciences during field work in South Africa which she now administers to a molecular level. Laura is member of the CEPLAS graduate school and holds a scholarship by the Heinrich-Böll foundation.

I am passionate about plants and their anthropogenic modifications. My current research is focused on examining the role of OsSWEETs during Oryza sativa - Magnaporthe oryzae interaction to gain deeper insight into pathogenesis caused by the fungus. Furthermore, I am intrigued about the deployment of genome editing techniques to decrease yield loss in rice. Through my work as a research assistant I could acquire experience in greenhouse management, cultivation of rice and maize for research purposes, as well as the implementation of molecular cloning techniques.

Hiba is doing her Bachelor studies in biology at HHU. She studies the effect of abiotic stresses, especially salt stress, on sugar transport in rice.