Det Biovidenskabelige Fakultet
Heavy metals and essential nutrients
"Plant-based solutions can be the best answer for many of the worlds current or future problems, such as providing healthy, safe and sufficient food in sustainable ways" says Ana Assunção, Department of Biology and Biotechnology at LIFE, University of Copenhagen.
Ana has completed her M.Sc. in Agricultural Sciences at University Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal (her home country), and holds a PhD in Plant Physiology from the Department of Plant Ecology and Physiology at the Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2003). During her PhD research and the following Postdoc in Amsterdam, Ana worked with a plant species that naturally tolerates and hyperaccumulates heavy metals, called Thlaspi caerulescens, focusing on understanding its mechanisms of metal accumulation and tolerance. Afterwards she worked at the Laboratory of Genetics at the Wageningen University, The Netherlands, when she was granted a 3-year scholarship from the NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research)/Veni scheme-Innovational Research Incentives Scheme) to develop her own project. In this project she focused on understanding how plants regulate their adaptation to conditions of zinc deficiency, using the model plant Arabidopsis. This work led to the identification of the first transcription factors involved in the regulation of the zinc homeostasis network in plants, and it is still a major research interest for her today. Since 2009 Ana is working at the Department of Biology and Biotechnology at LIFE, University of Copenhagen, where she is involved in a project aiming at developing a way of quantifying phosphate changes in plant living cells.
Can you briefly describe what is your research about?
My research is, ultimatly, about getting a better insight on the mechanisms of zinc and phosphate homeostasis in plants. Zinc and phosphate are essential plant micro and macronutrients, respectively. Nutrient homeostasis mechanisms insure that plants maintain an adequate nutrient supply in all cell types, at all stages of development and environmental conditions. At the cellular level, homeostasis is the result of uptake, transport and compartmentation activities. To a large extent, plant’s growth and development under the prevailing conditions depends upon their ability to sense nutrients and to respond rapidly to nutrient deficiency. My research interests are to help understanding how plants sense the micronutrient zinc and how do they regulate their responses in order to adapt to different availability conditions. Additionally I am focused on trying to find out whether a certain molecule, called “phosphate nanosensor” can be used to let us “see” changes in phosphate status in plants cells.
Why it is interesting to study plant sciences?
To study and research on plant sciences is essential because plant-based solutions can be the best answer for many of the worlds current or future problems, such as: to provide healthy, safe and sufficient food in a world with growing population (9 billion in a near future!) and changing environment, with biotic and abiotic stresses; to fight human (micronutrient) malnutrition which afflicts to many people; to obtain chemicals (medicines, enzymes, polymers, fibers) and bio-energy in sustainable ways; to promote sustainable agriculture, forestry and landscape, while preserving biodiversity. By researching and knowing more and better how plants actually are and function leads us to new and creative ideas that can become solutions for these challenges. In addition, it is a beautiful and fascinating Kingdom.
How is it to live abroad?
I always wanted to gain experience of living some time abroad to widen my horizons. To do so within a PhD was the best way to combine professional and personal development. In my case, I ended up staying abroad for much longer than I planned. The experience of living in different cultures is for me a nice way of having my (cultural) pre-conceived ideas challenged and realize how different/similar we are. Is also about meeting people, places, food, traditions... Being a researcher brings additionally a lot of cultural inter-change because laboratories tend to be, more and more, a nice pot of different cultures. The way I cope with living abroad is by prioritizing going to Portugal often enough, where traditionally families like to see each other often!, by convincing friends and family to visit me here…and phone & skype.