University of Glasgow

Eirini Kaiserli (PI) was born and educated on the island of Kos, Greece and became interested in Plant Biology and Photobiology during her Undergraduate degree at the University of Glasgow, UK. One of the most defining points in her academic path was the award of the Sainsbury Undergraduate Studentship from the Gatsby Foundation to study “Phototropin blue light receptors” at one of the leading Plant Photobiology labs at Carnegie Institution of Washington at Stanford University in California. This research experience inspired her to pursue a PhD on “UV-B perception” at the lab of Professor Gareth I Jenkins at the University of Glasgow, UK followed by a Human Frontier Science Program post-doctoral fellowship on “Light signal integration” at the lab of Professor Joanne Chory, an inspiring Woman in Science role model and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator at the Salk Institute in San Diego, California. Eirini joined the School of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Glasgow to start her research group as a Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Fellow in 2013, received tenure in 2016 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in 2019. Eirini’s lab study how plants respond to environmental signals such as light and temperature at the molecular and cellular level. Our aim is to uncover mechanisms of plant resilience to advance both basic and applied science. The Kaiserli Lab is currently investigating the molecular crosstalk between light signaling and thermotolerance, focusing on how plants integrate environmental cues to fine-tune stress responses. The Kaiserli lab has been fortunate to host and train very talented and enthusiastic early career researchers from diverse backgrounds that have contributed to the cultural and scientific diversity of the Plant Science Group and the University of Glasgow. Our lab aims to promote collegiality, research integrity, collaboration and career progression.

Dr Rea Antoniou-Kourounioti studied Biology at Imperial College, London, and Mathematics at the University of Crete, Greece, with the intention of combining the two in interdisciplinary science. She then obtained her PhD from the University of Nottingham in 2014, in which she utilised her multi-disciplinary background in a project on artificial photosynthesis. Following her PhD, Rea did a postdoc at the John Innes Centre working with Martin Howard and Caroline Dean on the epigenetic and environmental control of flowering time, in Arabidopsis, by the process of vernalization. In 2022 she joined the University of Glasgow as a lecturer in the School of Molecular Biosciences where she is working to uncover how plants sense and respond to cold temperature, using mathematical modelling and experimental methods. Rea’s research focuses on plants’ response to temperature. Her lab is particularly interested in how plants react to cold temperatures, as a reduction in cold periods with global warming will have significant effects on plant development and their ability to recognise the seasons. Furthermore, unseasonable cold or warm periods, another consequence of climate change, can lead to increased stress when plants are not appropriately prepared for the weather, at the molecular or developmental level.