Dhaese Lotte
Dhaese Lotte - Predoctoral fellow
Verstappe Wouter
Verstappe Wouter - Predoctoral fellow
Staut Jasper
Staut Jasper - Predoctoral fellow
Eekhout Thomas
Eekhout Thomas - Postdoctoral fellow
Staff scientist
Thomas Eekhout graduated as a Master in Biochemistry and biotechnology at Ghent University in 2013 before starting his PhD on plant cell cycle regulation in the group of prof. Lieven De Veylder. After obtaining his PhD in 2018 he did a short postdoc in the same group, after which he joined the plant single cell platform of prof. Bert De Rybel in the summer of 2020. Since then, he has loaded and analyzed over two hundred samples from over 20 species for both internal and external groups on different single cell technology platforms.Verhelst Eline
Verhelst Eline - Predoctoral fellow
Eline graduated from the Faculty of Sciences at Ghent University in 2021 with a Master in Biology, after which she continued her studies with a one-year Advanced Master in Plant Biotechnology. She performed her second Master thesis in the Vascular Development lab, where she subsequently joined to start a PhD in November 2022. Her project is embedded within the “PIPELINES” ERC Consolidator Grant (EU-funding) which was acquired by Bert De Rybel, and aims to discover novel transcriptional regulators in the process of vascular development through the use of single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. By studying the scRNA-seq data of evolutionary diverged model species that contain a vascular system, she aims to find regulators in xylem and phloem which are evolutionary conserved.
Persyn Freya
Persyn Freya - Postdoctoral fellow
In 2019, I obtained a Master in Biology at Ghent University. In 2024, I finished my PhD in plant Interactomics. Currently, I am the coordinator of the Plant Single Cell platform, located within the Vascular Development group of Bert De Rybel.
The molecular mechanisms of root meristem aging
Oriented cell divisions are crucial to determine the overall morphology and size of plants, but what controls the onset and duration of this process remains largely unknown. We recently identified a small molecule which activates root meristem expression of SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING-LIKE13, a known player in the shoot juvenile to adult transition. This leads to oriented cell divisions in the root meristem via SHORT ROOT and cell-cycle regulators.
Plant roots change their growth pattern during ‘puberty’
Research by Prof. Bert De Rybel’s team (VIB-UGent), in collaboration with the VIB Screening Core and Ghent University, uncovers how roots go through a puberty phase, which could have important implications for developing climate-resilient agriculture. Their work appears in Science.