nnovative professional with 20 years of experience as research scholar with expertise in Isolation identification, morphological and molecular characterization and metabolic profiling and genetic fingerprinting of rhizobia. Passionate about national institutional capacity building in Biological Nitrogen Fixation and broader soil fertility management research and in building-up young professionals by advising graduate students, both at MSc and PhD level. Well experienced, with capacity to plan, design and implement laboratory and field scale research and demonstration activities using various approaches. Highly motivated with a desire to take on new challenges. Strong work ethic, and excellent interpersonal skills.

Karen Velandia, a PhD candidate, explores how plant hormones control the legumes and rhizobial symbiosis in the model plant Pisum sativum. She investigates the complex molecular networks behind this process, aiming to understand the spatial and temporal action of plant hormones to regulate rhizobial infection and nodule organogenesis. Karen has worked on beneficial organisms for years, trying to understand the drivers for plants to form beneficial association with nitrogen fixing bacteria in soil. Dr Eloise Foo is a plant developmental biologist who is interested in how plants interact with their environment and how this is regulated by plant hormones: small, mobile, potent signals. Eloise also holds an ARC grant that aims to decode the signals important for plant-microbe interactions. She has contributed to the discovery of and current understanding of the newest plant hormone group, strigolactones, and has defined novel roles for plant hormones in plants relationships with beneficial and pathogenic microbes.

Estelle Grundy is a PhD student at the Integrative Legume Research Group in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability (AGFS) at the University of Queensland (UQ) led by A/Prof. Brett Ferguson. Her thesis work investigates the functional characterisation of defence genes in soybean nodulation. She is also a lab technician working for Prof. Michael Udvardi within the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) at the University of Queensland (UQ). Her work in the latter is centred on exploring the diversity of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in mungbean using pan-genome approaches. Ms Grundy hopes to further understand nodulation by exploring key symbiotic pathways at both gene-specific and pangenomic levels.

After completion of his Ph.D. training at the laboratory of Plant Physiology (WUR, the Netherlands), Dr. Kohlen joined the group of Prof. Theres at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (Cologne, Germany). Here, he familiarised himself with the molecular networks underlying the initiation and development of axillary meristems, with a special focus on how plant hormones are integrated in these processes. Realising a physically more accessible model would be needed for this work, Dr. Kohlen broadened his attention to include the root nodule meristem. For this, he contacted Prof. Bisseling at the laboratory of Molecular Biology (WUR, the Netherlands), which whom he was able to collaborate already during his Ph.D. training. At Wageningen University, Dr. Kohlen was appointed assistant professor, and able to obtain consecutive Veni and Vidi grants from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) which enabled him to establish a novel research line on hormonal regulation of secondary meristem initiation in plants.

Dr. Loehrer studied at RWTH Aachen University and completed his doctorate in the field of Plant Pathology and Plant Physiology. He devoted his research on elucidating mechanisms causing diseases of crop plants with a special focus on legumes, like soybean and lupin.

Dr Yi Zhou has over 10 years research experience focusing on legume microbiome and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria. Dr Matt. Denton has 25 years experience on the N fixation and developing novel rhizobia and inoculations for grain and pasture legumes.

2017-2021 Northeast Agricultural University Bachelor of Science in Agriculture 2021-now Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences / Chinese Academy of Sciences Doctor of Botany

Fuyu received her master degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences. During her studies, she has contributed to four separate papers, including one report published in Science, one in Plant cell and another two in New phytologist. Her project is focused on the role of the NRT2.3 nitrate-transporter in nodulation. To further develop the project, she applied successfully to the Chinese International Cooperation and Training Program for Doctoral Students, which supported a six-month visit to Prof. Anthony Miller's lab at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK.

Yuhan Liu is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland. She completed a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Science at UQ in 2020. She was then awarded a UQ Earmarked PhD scholarship at the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability. Yuhan is energetic and dedicated, aiming to create downstream solutions for Agriculture by expanding fundamental knowledge in legumes and nitrogen fixation, in particular by investigating small peptide proteins in soybean. She has also recently completed a project investigating RNAi technologies to control invasive ant species. Her achievements include receiving >$10,000 in competitive travel grants to presented at both local and international conferences as well as research institutions. She was awarded the Best Student Poster award at ComBio2022 and was a Finalist for the Brisbane Falling Walls Lab.