Beatriz Gonçalves
Lecturer in Development and Plant Evolution
I am fundamentally interested in understanding how changes in developmental processes shape plant leaf and flower diversity and how these changes contributed to the success of flowering plant lineages.
I obtained a PhD in Plant Biology in 2013 from Universite Paris-Sud. After that I was a postdoctoral researcher at the IJPB (France) on the role of boundary genes in leaf and ovule development. In 2016 I got a postdoctoral FEBS fellowship to study the development and evolution of complex leaf shapes at the John Innes Centre (UK) where I stayed for 4 years. I joined the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol as a lecturer in 2021 where I am building a research group on the evolution and diversity of the carpel and teaching mechanisms of development and plant evolution.
You can read more about my previous research here.
@BeatrizPGoncalv | Google Scholar | ResearchGate
Current lab members
Jay Daley
Jay is doing an MSc research project on the evolution of flower traits and flower-pollinator interactions
Tadd Seymour
I joined the PlantDEvo lab in September 2023 as a PhD student funded by the University of Bristol. I am particularly interested in understanding how signaling networks govern the enormous variation that we can see in plant morphology. My current work is focused on detailing the regulation of abaxial-adaxial patterning in the floral meristem.
Before joining the lab I studied Biology at Bristol, and joined the Grierson Lab for my Masters Project. Where I used a mutant suppressor screen to explore the role of AtRHD2 in the development of root hairs.
Martina De Angelis
I joined the Plant DEvo lab as a postdoctoral researcher at the end of 2023. I’m fascinated by the great variety of shapes and patterns found in nature, and my research interests are focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling shape diversity in plant aerial organs. I’m currently studying how polarity establishment regulates organ morphology during flower development.
Before joining the Plant DEvo lab I obtained a PhD at the University of Leeds, where my research was focused on identifying novel regulators controlling plant architecture in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Marina Kaufmanner
I joined the lab as a research technician at the end of 2023. My role is to ensure the smooth running of the lab, whilst also carrying out my own projects and assisting with other members’ projects.
Before joining the PlantDEvo lab I obtained a BSc in Biological Sciences from Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, with a year abroad at UWE Bristol where I investigated the circadian cycle of the microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. I returned to UWE Bristol to pursue a PhD studying the glycine-rich protein-encoding gene AtGRP2 and its role in the abscisic acid-mediated responses of Arabidopsis. My main areas of interest are gene expression, evolution, and most importantly, support and collaboration within research. I also dab in data analysis of plant microgravity experiments in my spare time.
Previous Students
Max Bethell – Summer 2023 Max did a summer project funded by a Gurdon Summer Studentship to work on the evolutionary history of genes involved in flower development
Lucy Bentall – 2022/23 Lucy did her MSci research project on the impact of heat stress, water deficit and their interaction on Pea yield
Charlotte Pigott – 2022/23 Charlotte did her MSci research project on the impacts of individual and combined heat stress and water deficit on reproductive development in Pea
Benjamin Hughes – 2021/22 During his MSci research project, Benjamin described kan1kan2 and as1-15 mutant phenotypes in carpel development
Meng Li – 2021/22 Meng did a MSc Bioinformatics project on the phylogenetic history of the WOX gene family in flowering plants