Frank Van Breusegem obtained his Bachelor and Master degree at Ghent University. He is a group leader of the Oxidative Stress Signaling group at the VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology (since 2001); full professor at Ghent University and he recently was elected vice-chair of the Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University). Since his early studies under the supervision of em. Prof. Marc Van Montagu, he focuses on the molecular impact of oxidative stress on plant cells. He obtained his PhD from Ghent University (1997) with work on “Engineering Stress Tolerance in Maize”. Nowadays, the primary objective of the Van Breusegem lab is the identification and functional analysis of regulatory gene and protein networks involved in the oxidative stress response in plants. Ultimately, he aims to translate this knowledge into biotechnological crop efficiency concepts. The lab has played a pioneering role in determining H₂O₂-dependent molecular and physiological responses in plants. The Van Breusegem lab is internationally recognized mainly because of its successful multi-omics driven approaches that allowed to identify several key targets in the oxidative stress response. Frank Van Breusegem has published more than 150 peer-reviewed publications (Clarivate h-index=59), is a frequent invited speaker and is monitoring editor of the leading plant journal “Plant Physiology”.

Expertise: ROS metabolism and oxidative stress signalling

Amna Mhamdi obtained her Master's degree in Plant Physiology and Biotechnology from Tunis El Manar University (Tunisia) in 2006. In 2007, she started her PhD in the group of Graham Noctor at the Université de Paris Sud (France), studying the role of enzymes involved in glutathione and NADPH reduction in oxidative stress signalling. After obtaining her PhD in 2010, she stayed in the same laboratory and continued as a postdoctoral researcher. From 2016, she joined the oxidative stress signalling group led by Frank Van Breusegem at PSB (Belgium) to study the photorespiratory hydrogen peroxide signalling mechanisms and cysteine oxidation events that occur during plant responses to stress. Since 2023, Amna has been working as a Staff Scientist at VIB-Belgium, Frank Van Breusegem group, with a special focus on understanding the role of redox regulation of transcription complexes and translating key findings observed in Arabidopsis to crop plants. To address research questions in the field of redox and oxidative signalling, Amna is using an integrative approach involving genetics and transcriptomic, proteomic as well as metabolomic profiling.