Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso, PhD, is a Professor of Plant Sciences and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Leeds. She is originally from Cuba and studied in the University of La Habana. She completed a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the University of Cordoba, Spain and did postdoctoral placements at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (New York, USA) and at the John Innes Centre (JIC) (Norwich, UK). Yoselin’s research focuses on investigating the mechanisms regulating intercellular communication in plants using biological, physical and mathematical approaches.
Nicola Patron, PhD, is a Research Group Leader at The Earlham Institute, Norwich, UK. Her group investigates plant gene expression and metabolism with the aim of engineering plants as photosynthetic platforms for biomanufacturing and improving the sustainability of agriculture. Nicola is from the U.K. She has a PhD in plant molecular biology and pursued postdoctoral research at The John Innes Centre, UK and The University of British Columbia, Canada. As a SynBioLEAP fellow, Nicola was recognised as an emerging leader in synthetic biology with a desire to help innovations in the laboratory have a positive social impact. In that context, she is also concerned with the complex access and ownership questions surrounding genetic sequences, enabling technologies and biomolecules.
Steven Spoel, PhD, is a Professor of Cell Signalling and Proteostasis at the University of Edinburgh. After completing an MSc at Utrecht University (Netherlands), he moved to Duke University (USA) for his PhD degree and subsequently was awarded an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship and a Netherlands Science Foundation Rubicon Fellowship for postdoctoral work at the University of Edinburgh. In 2010 he started his lab with a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. Steven has been a recipient of the New Phytologist Tansley Medal (2010), the Early Excellence in Science Award from the Bayer Foundation (2013), and two consecutive grants from the European Research Council. He was Chair of the GARNet Advisory Board (2017 to 2020) and is currently an advisor for the Scottish Universities Life Science Alliance and a member of the Gatsby Plant Science Advisory Board. Since 2018, he is Head of the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.
Ayomide Olukorede is a PhD candidate at the John Innes Center, Norwich, (UK) in the PhD rotation program in Plant and Microbial Science. She completed her Master’s in Plant Science and Biotechnology at the University of Leeds, UK and served as a research assistant in the Benitez-Alfonso laboratory. Ayomide is interested in using a creative, curiosity-led approach to answer fundamental questions in bioscience and translating that knowledge into societal benefits and innovations in plant science. She is concerned about improving food security in Africa and passionate about contributing her knowledge and skills to improving bioscience education for early career scientists who have limited opportunities, ensuring that they are on par with their global counterparts and can reach their maximum potential.
Jade Bleau, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Dundee/James Hutton Institute. After finishing her BSc at the University of Leeds, she completed her MRes in Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of Sheffield (UK), working with the vegetable breeding company Enza Zaden (Netherlands). She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh and is currently at the University of Dundee, researching the molecular mechanisms behind plant-aphid interactions. Jade is one of the founding members of Black Botanists Week, a campaign first organised in 2020 to promote, encourage, create a safe space for, and find more Black people who love plants.
Mikhaela Neequaye, PhD, is a Post-doctoral Research Assistant in the newly established Byers Lab at the John Innes Centre. She is a chemical ecologist, with a background in crop genetics, currently studying the regulation of plant-pollinator interactions. Mikhaela is a British-Ghanaian and a recent recipient of the Rosalind Franklin Society Award in Science.
John Baison, PhD, is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and cereal geneticist based at RAGT Seeds Ltd. focusing on the implementation of genomic selection methods in cereal breeding programmes, and liaison with breeders and statisticians to ensure delivery of molecular genetics and bioinformatics analyses. John completed his PhD on the application of genetic and genomic tools in Apple breeding at the ARC in South Africa. In June 2015, John was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Karl Kemp Foundation to join the Bio4Energy project at Umea Plant Science Centre (UPSC), Sweden as a bioinformatician. This was followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) in the Forest Genetics group at UPSC as lead bioinformatician.