Partners_
CSIC
Estación Experimental de Aula Dei
Dr. Ernesto Igartua (Coord.)
Dr. Ana Casas
Dr. Bruno Contreras-Moreira
Dr. Rubén Sancho
University of Helsinki
Institute of Biotechology
Prof. Alan Schulman
Dr. Triin Vahisalu
Dr. Fred Stoddard
University of Cukurova
Faculty of Agriculture
Department of Field Crops
Dr. Hakan Ozkan
Dr. Ugur Sesiz
Dr. Esra Çakir
University of Milano
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DiSAA)
Prof. Laura Rossini
Prof. Roberto Confalonieri
Dr. Livia Paleari
Dr. Roberta Rossi
Valerio Gipli
Dr. Martina Clerici
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA)
Research Centre for Genomics and Bioinformatics
Dr. Alessandro Tondelli
Dr. Davide Guerra
University of Silesia in Katowice
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection
Dr. Agata Daszkowska-Golec
Dr. Magdalena Pacwa-Plociniczak
Dr. Agnieszka Janiak
University of Tartu
Institute of Technology
Prof. Hannes Kollist
Egon Meigas
Triinu Arjus
Natural Resources Institute (LUKE)
Dr. Sirja Viitala
University College Dublin
School of Biology and Environmental Science
Dr. Sónia Negrão
Dr. Tancredi Caruso
Dr. Avraam Koskosidis
Dr. Shivani Khatri
Elia Godoli
Meet the leaders_
Dr. Ernesto Igartua
Principal Researcher in barley genetics and breeding at the Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD-CSIC, Zaragoza, Spain).
His research is focused on developing new varieties better adapted to future environments with low input requirements and high yields.
Prof. Alan Schulman
Head of Research and Group Leader at the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland).
His group identifies and applies genetics, genomics and cell biology to understand the processes of genome dynamics, and also pursues the basis of drought resilience and other sustainability traits.
Prof. Hakan Özkan
Plant Breeder, Geneticist and Full Professor at the Dept. of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Cukurova University (Adana, Turkey).
His research interests are focused on legumes and cereals genetics and domestication, polyploidization and breeding of cereals for abiotic and biotic stresses.
Prof. Laura Rossini
Full Professor in Crop Genetics at the Dept. of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan (Milan, Italy).
Her research aims at the discovery and functional characterization of genes involved in ideotype traits in crops to better understand plant biology and provide useful knowledge for breeders, mainly focusing on barley.
Dr. Alessandro Tondelli
Senior Researcher at the CREA, Research Centre for Genomics and Bioinformatics (Fiorenzuola d’Arda, Italy).
He studies the genetic diversity in cereal crops for the dissection of quantitative traits, through genotypic and phenotypic analysis of mapping populations and germplasm collections.
Dr. Agata Daszkowska-Golec
Associate Professor at the Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice (Katowice, Poland).
Her research activity is focused on molecular basis of plants’ response to abiotic stress adaptation, with emphasis on ABA signalling and drought response.
Prof. Hannes Kollist
Professor of Molecular Plant Biology and Group Leader of Plant Signal Research Group at the Institute of Technology, University of Tartu (Tartu, Estonia).
His research is focused on the mechanisms by which guard cells integrate information from outside as well as inside the leaf to adjust plant gas exchange.
Dr. Sirja Viitala
Principal Research Scientist/Research Manager (Genetics and Breeding) at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) (Helsinki, Finland).
Her research is focused on genomics of economically important food crops, improving the quality and quantity of crop yields in agriculture and linking traits to genes to boost crop breeding.
Dr. Sónia Negrão
Assistant Professor in Plant Sciences at the University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland).
She studies the genetic mechanisms underlying stress adaptation using resilient crop species through the analysis of genomic signatures of stress adaptation by performing association models using naturally occurring genetic diversity and high-throughput phenotyping.
Dr. Tancredi Caruso
Associate Professor at the School of Biology and Environmental Science at the University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland).
His research is focused on the processes that structure microbial and animal biodiversity in space and time. He has mostly worked on aboveground-belowground linkages, especially plants and soil and the ecological networks they form, and how terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem functioning respond to perturbations.
Dr. Livia Paleari
Researcher at the Dept. of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan (Milan, Italy) and member of the Cassandra Lab staff.
She works on model-based studies aimed at identifying ideotypes improved for their resistance/tolerance to diseases and extreme environmental conditions. She has developed integrated approaches to support breeding programs based on the in silico introgression of traits from traditional resistant/tolerant varieties in modern genotypes.
Dr. Davide Guerra
Researcher at the CREA, Research Centre for Genomics and Bioinformatics (Fiorenzuola d’Arda, Italy).
His research activity is focused on the genetic and molecular basis of plants’ response to abiotic stress in barley. The focus of his work is to study the natural genetic diversity of genes regulating stomatal development and behaviours and how they affect plant Water Use Efficiency.
