Associated scientists

Are you curious about what are the PlantLink Researchers at Lund University and SLU Alnarp doing? Do you want to know more about their research, daily work, and background? Read more about our researchers here as part of the Researcher in the Spotlight interviews here!

1 Plant breeding and engineering

Per Hofvander, Mariette Andersson and Li-Hua Zhu are PIs at the Department of Plant Breeding at SLU Alnarp. Their research includes studies of molecular mechanisms underlying plant oil biosynthesis and the carbon flow from starch to oil, genetic modification of important traits such as the rooting ability, early flowering, starch and oil qualities, and plant breeding for increased plant resistance.

Faculty Professor Rodomiro Ortiz focuses his research on basic, strategic and applied undertakings in crop improvement. His breeding efforts are concentrated on the utilization of wild species and landraces for the development of elite progenitors and cultivars adapted to the environmental conditions.

Kimmo Rumpunen at Deparmtnet of Plant Breeding, SLU Alnarp. His research is focused on fruit and berry quality including health-related properties, and on the control of resistance against various fungal diseases (apple, sea buckthorn) and gall mites (black currants).

Olof Olsson leads the oat group at Pure and Applied Biochemistry at LTH, focuing on the development of new oat varieties with improved traits,

Leif Bülow‘s group at Pure and Applied Biochemistry at LTH focuses on genetic engineering applied on plant systems.

2 ‘Post-harvest’ – quality and new products

Olov Sterner’s group at the departmet of Chemistry, LU, studies bioactive secondary metabolites.

Patrick Adlercreutz’ group at division of Biotechnology, LTH, works with enzymatic reactions for example to tailor lipids and production of prebiotics.

Federico Gómez‘ at Department of Food Technology, Engineering and Nutrition at LU research focus on processing concepts based on the application of pulsed electric fields and minimal processing of vegetables and fruits.

Rajni Hatti Kaul at Division of Biotechnology, LTH, works on biotechnology solutions for production of chemicals and biomaterials, e.g. conversion of renewable feedstocks into value added products.

Henrik Stålbrand’s group at Center for Molecular Protein Science, LU, focus on the enzymology of hemicellulase hydrolysis, which has important applications in the food/feed and pulp/paper industries.

Eva Johansson’s research group at the Faculty of Landscape Planning, Horticulture and Crop Production Sciences, SLU Alnarp, work with product-quality of crops for food feed and industry products and for use in a bio-refinery concept

Faraz Muneer’s research focuses on developing innovative tools and methods to efficiently use agro-industrial side streams, with a specific emphasis on biorefining processes, product quality, biobased material applications, and food processing.

Beatrix Alsanius, LTV faculty, SLU. Her research and field of expertise are microbial interactions in horticultural value networks.

Ramune Kuktaite, Plant Product Quality at the Department of Plant Breeding, SLU, Alnarp. Her research focuses on plant protein innovative uses in bio-based materials, composites and food products.

Claudia Lazarte, associate senior lecturer at the Department of Food Technology, Engineering and Nutrition, Lund University. She is involved in the following projects: “Effects of probiotic drinks on insulin and glucose response” and “Fermentation of pseudocereals to reduce anti-nutrients and increase mineral bioavailability”.

3 Abiotic stress

Urban Johanson at Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, LU, study various aspects of aquaporins and abiotic stress in plants.

Olivier Van Aken’s lab,  part of the Plant Biology Group, LU, focus on understanding signal transduction pathways that regulate gene expression in response to environmental stress.

Cecilia Emanuelsson‘s group at Center for Molecular Protein Science, LU, studies among other things heat-shock proteins in plants, how they interact and can increase plant stress tolerance.

Jean Yong’s group focusses on Sustainable Plant production and Biostimulants across various horticultural, agricultural and ecological context, and belongs to the Department of Biosystems and Technology at SLU Alnarp.

Mahbubjon Rahmatov is a researcher at the Plant Breeding Department. His research focuses on utilizing crop wild relatives to enhance resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Sajeevan Radha Sivarajan is a researcher in the Resistance Biology Group at the Department of Plant Protection Biology, SLU Alnarp. His research explores physiological and molecular mechanisms behind biotic and abiotic stress responses in plants for their better survival and productivity.

4 Biotic interactions

Pål Axel Olsson and collegues at Center for Environmental and Climate Research, LU, work on plant-microbial networks in grasslands focusing on carbon cycling and diversity and ecophysiology of mycorrhizal fungi.

The plant resistance group led by Erik Andreasson at SLU Alnarp studies how plants defend themselves against oomycetes and fungi and focuses on Phytophthorainfestans and Alternaria infection in potato.

Åsa Lankinen at Department of Plant Protection Biology, SLU Alnarp, focuses on ecological, evolutionary and genetic aspects of plant interactions with pathogens, pests and pollinators.

Anders Tunlid is part of Microbial Ecology at LU and have interests in microbial genomics and bioinformatical solutions.

Georg Carlsson at the Department of Biosystems and Technology, SLU Alnarp, performs research about the symbiotic interactions between legumes and rhizobia and their implications on N dynamics from the rhizosphere to the cropping system scales.

Peter Witzgall and Ylva Hillbur at Chemical Ecology at SLU Alnarp work on plant-insect interaction and on how the chemical communication works using insects as the model systems.

Christer Löfstedt‘s group at LU studies aspects of insect chemical communication with a focus on the evolutionary and applied aspects of pheromone communication in moths.

Siri Caspersen at the Department of Biosystems and Technology, SLU Alnarp, has research interests within plant – soil interactions, including plant nutrition, mycorrhizal symbiosis and root biology. The focus of my present research is phosphorus efficiency and phosphorus availability in horticultural crops, and also the utilization of mycorrhizal symbiosis in horticultural crop production.

Paul Becher and his group at Department of Plant Protection Biology, SLU Alnarp, researches chemically mediated interactions between organisms like host finding and sexual communication.

In a collaboration between Lund University and SLU Alnarp, Magne Friberg, LU, Anna Runemark, LU, and Kristina Karlsson Green, SLU Alnarp, integrate ecology and genomics to study the evolution and coevolution of plant-insect interactions.

Laura Greenville-Briggs Didymus‘s group Plant Pathology Lab at the department of Plant Protection Biology, SLU Alnarp,  focuses on the molecular and genetic determinants of disease in oomycete and fungal plant pathogens in combination with molecular analysis of interactions between microbial biocontrol agents and their prey.

Johan A Stenberg leads the Strawberry Lab at SLU Alnarp.

Allan Rasmusson‘s research focuses on the mitochondrion and redox signalling in plants. This research is part of the Plant Biology Group at LU.

Larisa Gustavsson, Associate Professor at the Department of Plant Breeding, SLU. Research interests: genetic resources, plant/pathogen interactions, disease resistance.

5 Modelling and informatics

Dag Ahrén at the Division of molecular cell biology, LU, has his primary interest in understanding genetic and genomic mechanisms related to fungal host interactions (parasitic as well as symbiotic).

The group of Henrik Jönsson‘s (at Computational Biology and Biological Physics, LU) main interest is to develop models for multicellular develpmental systems within the emerging field of Computational Morphodynamics. In his group Carl Troein studies the function and evolutionary origins of gene regulatory systems, in particular the circadian clock of plants.

Aakash Chawade at the Department of Plant Breeding at SLU studies genetic, molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying biotic and abiotic stresses primarily in wheat.

The group of Anna Maria Jönsson at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science develops models to assess climate impacts on plants, insects and their interactions.

Lars Eklund, also at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, leads research on remote sensing of vegetation from ground, air and sattelite. He is interested in studying dynamic variations in plant growth, and interactions with climate drivers and the carbon cycle.

6 – Plants, People and Society

Dennis Eriksson, Plant breeding, SLU Alnarp

Deniz Koca, CEC, LU

Lena Ekelund Axelsson, LTV, SLU

Agnes Andersson Djurfeldt, The department of Human Geography, LU

Johanna Alkan Olsson, CEC, LU

Fredrik Fernqvist, SLU

Allison Linnea Perrigo, director at the Botanical Garden, LU

Sofie Olofsson, Botanical Garden, LU

Agneta Julia Borg, curator at the Botanical Garden, LU

PlantLink Alumni

Hilde Nybom
Inger Åhman