Dr Sapeta (holding the flowers) having successfully defended her PhD; to her left is Dr Carmo Silva and to her right is her main supervisor, Prof Margarida Oliveira.
Plant Scientist and Lecturer at the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC), Dr Elizabete Carmo-Silva visited the Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB-NOVA) in April 2019. Elizabete was one of two external examiners for the public discussion of the PhD thesis of Helena Sapeta, supervised by Professor Margarida Oliveira. PhD discussions in Portugal are very different from a PhD viva in the UK and the picture illustrates the members of the Jury with Dr Sapeta at the end of the session.
As part of the visit, Elizabete was invited to give a seminar at ITQB-NOVA on The complex regulation of the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco. Elizabete presented the research she and the Photosynthesis Research team at LEC are conducting aimed at improving the productivity of globally important crops, such as wheat, as part of the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP). She discussed the complexities of Rubisco regulation and how our expanding knowledge and understanding of such complexities are essential to inform targeted approaches of crop improvement.
While at ITQB, Elizabete and collaborators Dr Isabel Abreu and PhD student Inês Matias Luís at the Proteome Regulation in Plants Laboratory of the Genomics of Plant Stress (GPlantS) research unit, met to discuss research findings and the development of future initiatives, including an upcoming meeting at Lancaster.