Dr Martin Balcerowicz

Principal Investigator & Royal Society University Research Fellow

Martin is originally from Germany, where he did his PhD at the University of Cologne in the lab of Ute Hoecker, studying light signalling mechanisms in Arabidopsis. He moved to the Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge University (SLCU), UK, as a postdoc, investigating light and temperature signalling crosstalk in the lab of Philip Wigge and developing plant hormone biosensors in the group of Alexander Jones. In 2022 he joined the University of Dundee to start his own research group to investigate temperature-controlled gene expression in plants.

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Moray Smith

Postdoctoral Researcher

Moray studied Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Glasgow in 2020 before beginning his PhD at the University of St Andrews, investigating potato resistance genes under the supervision of Prof John Jones and Prof Ingo Hein. Now, Moray works as a postdoctoral researcher in the Balcerowicz lab aiming to characterise how plants respond to temperature stress through the regulation of gene transcription and translation.

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Leonardo Sallesses

Research Technician

Leonardo is an Agronomist from Argentina and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Science and Technology. He works as a Research Technician in the Balcerowicz lab at the University of Dundee. His work supports research in plant science, with a focus on plant responses to environmental signals such as light and temperature, applied to the study of plant development and adaptation to climate change.

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Emma Hardy

EASTBIO PhD Student

Emma studied biology at the University of Freiburg in Germany, where she discovered an interest in molecular biology and plant development. She started her PhD in the Balcerowicz lab in autumn 2022. Her project aims to characterise potential novel regulators of temperature responses and their regulation at the post-transcriptional level in the model plant Arabidopsis.

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Aminin Taqrir Akramin

Royal Society PhD Student

Aminin is from Malaysia and graduated in Biological Sciences from University of Dundee. He worked as a Research Technician in the Balcerowicz lab in 2022/23 before starting as a PhD student in the lab in 2023. His project focuses on investigating the role of translation initiation factors on plant temperature responses. Outside of the lab, he enjoys baking, going to concerts and playing Ultimate frisbee.

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Heather Gulbrandsen

BARIToNE PhD Student

Heather graduated with a Masters in Forensic and Analytical Science before starting a PhD in the Balcerowicz lab in October 2024. Her project aims to investigate thermomorphogenesis in barley, exploring candidate genes for their contribution to climate resilience.

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