Speakers

Enzo Lombi (orcid.org/0000-0003-3384-0375) holds the Barbara Hardy Chair in Environmental Science and Engineering at the Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia. He held several roles at the University including Dean of Research for the STEM area. His major research interests relate to the biogeochemistry of trace elements and nutrients in the environment. His research relies on synchrotron and (radio)isotopic techniques. Enzo received his PhD in environmental chemistry from the Catholic University (Italy) and held positions at BOKU (Vienna), Rothamsted Research (UK), CSIRO (Australia) and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) before starting at the University of South Australia in 2009.

Dr Simona Grasso is an Ad Astra Fellow and Assistant Professor at the University College Dublin (UCD) School of Food and Agriculture, Food and Nutrition section. Simona received her PhD in Food Science from UCD in Ireland and obtained a fist class honours BSc and MSc in Food Science from the University of Catania, Italy. Before returning to Ireland, she spent four years in the UK, first as a Lecturer at the University of Lincoln National Centre for Food Manufacturing and then as Postdoctoral Fellow and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Reading. She has experience working for the food industry covering a variety of roles both in the UK and in the Republic of Ireland. Her main research activity concerns new product development including functional foods, healthier meat products and the valorisation of food by-products through upcycled foods. She has more than 10 years of experience in food science and in her academic career she has published a number of research and review articles in peer-reviewed international journals and obtained both national and European funding to carry out her research work. She is actively seeking to work with individuals from industry and academia to develop multidisciplinary collaborations.

My research focuses on plant x environment interactions using ecophysiological, molecular and soil science approaches.
Main areas:
(i) Research into the biological mechanisms involved in water use efficiency (WUE) in poplar.
(ii) The transcriptomic and proteomic response of poplar to various abiotic stresses (drought, temperature rise or heavy metal inputs).
(ii) The implementation of phytomanagement techniques for the rehabilitation of highly anthropized environments.
These three themes are addressed at the ecophysiological and molecular levels for the plant models studied, and at the physico-chemical level for the soils of anthropized environments (mainly former mining sites). I have studied the stress levels experienced by Salicaceae seedlings during stress, and have investigated the transcriptome and proteome for metabolic pathways linked to improved water use efficiency or tolerance to abiotic stress. For the past 10 years I have been developing methods for rehabilitating polluted sites.

Methodology:
1. Study the initial biodiversity of plants present near or on polluted sites (i) to identify plant species of interest for phytoremediation and (ii) characterize their response to exposure to metal contaminants.
2. Research and quantify the effectiveness of organic and inorganic amendments to reduce the in situ bioavailability of metal contaminants and thus limit the exposure of plants and associated microorganisms: help the installation of a plant cover based on tolerant species and research the combinations of amendments x plant species giving the best performance to reduce the sources of exposure.
3. Study in mesocosms and from field pilots the effectiveness of phytoremediation techniques (phytostabilization, assisted phytostabilization).

Diana Santelia is a Molecular Plant Physiologist at ETH Zürich, where she leads an independently funded research team. Over the past 15 years, she has been working in the exciting field of starch metabolism. She contributed seminal work on starch and sugar metabolism in stomatal guard cells, a technically challenging topic which stagnated since the 1990s. Her research uncovered the function and regulation of starch turnover in guard cells and its influence on plant productivity and stress tolerance. Diana juggles the responsibilities of family life, a full-time job and a true passion for triathlon.