People
Professor Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso - Group leader
Group Leader and Professor in Plant Sciences.
Born in Havana, Cuba, studied a Bachelors in Chemistry at the University of Cordoba, Spain.
Graduated in 2003 with a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Cordoba under the supervision of Prof. Juan Munoz-Blanco and Gabriel Dorado.
Postdoctoral researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA (2004-2009) mentored by Prof. David Jackson.
Postdoctoral researcher at John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK (2009-2013) mentored by Prof. Andrew Maule followed by a year working with Dr. Veronica Grieneisen.
Lecturer position (2013- to date) at the Centre for Plant Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, UK
Richa Yeshvekar - Postdoctoral researcher
I am a Postdoctoral researcher in the Benitez-Alfonso lab where I investigate the ultrastructure of plasmodesmata and the composition of the surrounding cell wall in different plant species. I also study the callose turnover at plasmodesmata and it's effects on plant growth and development.
Through my research, I aim to apply my fundamental knowledge in genetics, cell, and molecular biology for crop improvement. In my previous research, I used genomics and molecular biology techniques to study stress tolerance in crops such as pearl millet, sorghum, and chickpea. In the current project, I am using tomato as a system to study the role of callose in fruit development, to generate deeper insights into symplastic transport and phloem unloading during fruit ripening.
Liam German - PhD student
Liam, a graduate from the University of Sheffileld, is a PhD student funded by the Sheila Gosden Studentship. His work is broadly working on one of the model legume species, Medicago truncatula, researching plasmodesmata and cell walls in this plant as they are exposed to various environmental influences. These include changes to nutrient availability, drought stress and the presence of the symbiotic microorganisms: the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, rhizobia, and the abundant, nutrient-scavenging arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. He is also reasearching drought resistant traits from Cicer arietinum (chickpea), by stuyding drought resistant genes in M. truncatula
Emily Newcombe – PhD student
Emily joined the lab in 2020 as an MRes student and progressed into PhD study as part of the 2021 Bragg Centre studentship cohort.
Emily’s research looks at dissecting the structure and composition of plant lignocellulosic wastes, assessing their potential for use as alternative sources of cellulose and other cell wall components for industrial applications.
Lazar Novakovic - Postdoctoral researcher
Brigita Simonaviciene - PhD student
Brigita has joined YBA lab in 2022 as a PhD student. Her research is looking into understanding the cell wall mechanism controlling symplastic transport during plant response to heat and water withdrawal.
Jenny Barber - Research technician
Jenny was born just over the road at the LGI, Leeds and was raised in Morley. She graduated, from the University of Leeds, in 2017 with a BSc (hons) in Medical Biochemistry. She then ventured further afield, all the way to the University of Huddersfield, to complete a master’s by research in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her project was titled ‘Adrenomedullin Receptor Antagonists as a Potential Therapeutic for Major Depressive Disorder’ and involved techniques such as mammalian cell culture, ELISA, qPCR and Western blotting. In January 2019, she joined Avacta Diagnostics and worked there for 4 years, initially as a Research Associate before being promoted to Technical Scientist 1. During this time, she was part of the team responsible for the initial screening and characterisation of protein-based antibody mimetics known as Affimer® reagents. This involved lots of ELISA and bead-based flow cytometry work.
As a member of the Benitez-Alfonso lab, Jenny aims to develop a disruptive point of care immunoassay against β-1,3-glucan, for the rapid and early detection of invasive fungal infections, using her knowledge of ELISA and antibody-antigen interactions.
Former lab members
- Pallavi Kumari - Postdoctoral researcher
- Jumana Akhtar – Research technician
- Besiana Sinanaj – PhD student
- Dr Sam Amsbury - Postdoctoral researcher
- Philip Kirk – PhD student
- Dr Candelas Paniagua Correas – Postdoctoral researcher
- Rocio Gaudioso-Pedraza – PhD Student
- Dr Radwa Abou-Saleh El Moursi – Postdoctoral researcher
- Mercedes Hernandez-Gomez – Postdoctoral fellow
- Dr. Ambra de Simone. Postdoctoral 2016 (3 months)
- Dr. Sean Stevenson. Postdoctoral 2016 (3 months)
Visiting lab members
- Katarzyna Sokolowska - PhD student
- Cristina Sánchez Raya – PhD student
- Naomi Simmons – MSc student