Sapeta Helena

Helena holds a 4-years BSc in Biology from the University of Évora (2009), a post-graduation (2012) and a PhD in Molecular Biology (2019) from NOVA University of Lisbon. During her PhD, Helena specialized in plant development and physiology, with a special focus on photosynthetic flexibility and photoprotection in response to different environmental conditions. Currently she is a postdoctoral researcher at ITQB NOVA, Plant Functional Genomics Lab, studying suberization regulation in Arabidopsis and Quercus suber under optimal and adverse growth conditions (drought and heat). Her main scientific interests focus on the study of plant growth/development under adverse conditions (such as drought and heat), aiming to uncover regulatory mechanisms that can minimize the negative impact of climate change on plant development. She has studied several model and non-model plants (Arabidopsis, rice, Jatropha curcas, Quercus suber, Castanea sativa), having published 8 original peer-reviewed articles in Q1 journals from the Plant Science field, including The Plant Journal (2022), Tree physiology (2022); Plant Cell and Environment (2017), Journal of Experimental Botany (2016), Environmental and Experimental Botany (2013). Helena as an extensive research network, having collaborations in Germany, Hungary, Belgium, USA and Japan. She is also a reviewer for PeerJ, Polibotánica, Scientific Reports, Molecular Genetics and Genomics, Biomass and Bioenergy. She has been involved as a member in 7 projects (5 FCT and 2 EU funded project), four currently running. She received 5 travel awards, a short-stay research grant and a best poster prize and her work was presented 22 times as oral communication (17 by herself, 6 invited, and 2 keynote) and 21 times as poster communication (16 by herself) in International/national congresses. She has been actively involved in training young researchers, co-supervising 1 MSc and 2 BSc students, and supervising 3 short-term and 3 lab-rotation students. She has also organized a scientific meeting for ITQB PhD students and collaborated in teaching at MSc and PhD programs. Helena has received specialized training in plant metabolic determinations, transcriptomics and photosynthesis research during several stays in international institutions (UC Davis, USA; Fraunhofer IGB, Germany; Hokkaido University, Japan; Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary). She has also attendant 7 specialized courses covering image analysis, scientific writing, transcriptomics data analysis, and photosynthetic parameters measurements. Moreover, she has been involved in science outreach activities, having organized 1 event (ITQB Open Day 2019) and participating in science dissemination for the general public (ITQB Open Day, Oeiras Science Festival). KEY WORDS: Abiotic stress-response; Drought; Molecular mechanisms; Plant Phenotyping; Plant Physiology; Photosynthesis; Photoprotection.