iPlantMicro Lab
Researching in plant-microbe interactions and environmental bioengineering, this site will serve as micro-blogging space to transmit our knowledge about plant-microbe biotechnology!
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@itqbnova @greenit_bio4sus
🗣️: EN/PT
- 🎓🌱 Welcome Lilas Wolff to our lab! Her MSc project explores how the invasive alga Rugulopteryx okamurae can be valorised as a soil amendment, studying its impact on microbiota, biostimulation, and crop & soil health. Excited to have you with us, Lilas! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- When a good friend opens his office to you, work suddenly feels easy and enjoyable again. The world could use more colleagues like you, Cris! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- This week, Catarina, Inês, Jacinta and Domingas (AE Miraflores) began their journey into plant–microbe interactions. Supported by João Silva and Niraula Kusum, they are studying drought effects and screening new bioinoculants for sustainable agriculture! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- January, almost done ✅ Big projects taking shape! - João wrapping up a massive screening for a future predictive tool 📊 -Leonor & Kusum advancing root exudate recruitment traits 🦠 -Thomas testing a new bioinoculant 🧪 Full speed 🚀 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- New lab toy just arrived: bioreactor ✅ Unpacked → assembled → ready to run. This unlocks better control for: • inoculant growth optimization • microalgae cultivation • pre-industrial process requirements Now we tune conditions and let biology do its thing! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Night inoculation, just hope is not becoming a new tendency 😅 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Please, welcome our more recent internship student! Leonor is going to work with Kusum in the challenging but ultra-cool exudate-mediated recruiting under stress! Best luck! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Our students have been getting the lab ready for a new phase, putting in a lot of work behind the scenes. The final task was cleaning the greenhouse, helping us start the year with everything in place and ready to go! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- New year vibes: clean lab coats and a fresh start! 😂🥼 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Don't worry, these heroes are already on holidays!❄️🎄But, it's important to mention their labour organizing the 'enemy' of the lab, organizing -80 stock! Samples from ice age, glycerol collections...Full heroes! For a fresh and clean new year beginning! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- 🎄✨ Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from iPlantMicro Lab! 🌱🔬 Thanks to everyone we worked with this year — here’s to more growth, curiosity, and great science in the year ahead! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Today our students shared our work as part of @itqbnova’s communication strategy. Kusum and André are getting very good (and famous) in dissemination tasks of all kind! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Give me hand, please ⏩ Take two, or 12! End of the year, las rushing! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- As part of #SaltShield project, we will implement a new bioformulation for our halophile strains using cork powder. Not only improving saline stress tolerance, but valorizing local products! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Best projects require the best people😎 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- After a very long year, turn to end the very last things, re-stock and clean the lab... Everything to face 2026 with the best! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Three amazing young women defended their master’s theses this year—and they absolutely nailed it. ✨ Brilliant, funny, resilient… they turned stress into success and left the committee stunned. Proud of our unstoppable trio! 🎓💛 @itqbnova.bsky.social @istecnico.bsky.social
- Next round of metabarcoding analyses is coming! Effects of micro plastics in soil microbiota or the seed microbiome of quinoa and amaranthus will be unveiled soon! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Today we hoste the visit of the students from ES Sebastião e Silva to show them some techniques we apply in our lab! André, Thomas, Daniel, Ahsen and Milli showed how cool is to be in a lab and tell them about the relevance of plant-microbe interactions! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- The good ones, always come back! Please welcome João as part of our team! He's back as master student, developing a new tool to design SynComs improving or decision-taking about how to assemble more efficient consortia! So happy to have you here again 🎉 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- During the last 6th Plant Microbiome Symposium in Antequera, our student Milli outperformed! The work developed together with Daniel about the biostimulation of soil microbiota by algae extracts was captivating the audience of the event, great job! @microsos.bsky.social @itqbnova.bsky.social
- From science talks to spontaneous laughter — the 6th Plant Microbiome Symposium gave us way more than great research updates! Somewhere between sessions, a new powerhouse (and comedy troupe?) of PIs was born for better future in the area! @itqbnova.bsky.social @microsos.bsky.social
- It may look like just an ordinary petri dish… but it’s actually a glimpse of hope! 🧫✨ These amazing bacteria have the power to break down pesticides in soil, helping us restore soil health and move toward a cleaner, more sustainable future. Tiny organisms, huge impact! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- In the dark we work, for a brighter and sustainable world! 🔬🧫 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- 🆕 Our new paper is out in The ISME Journal!🌱🧬🦠 We uncover how epigenetic regulation drives chemical crosstalk between plants & microbes — key to sustainable agriculture. Proud collaboration with our friends of Dr. Mengcen Wang's lab @ZJU @itqbnova.bsky.social 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/isme...
- As we did with modern lines, as we do for ancestors! We evaluate stress-induced exudates profiles for tomato ancestor along the life cycle. The initial results showed way more complex blends, so we aim to uncover the lost language to selectively recruit beneficial pals!🌱🦠🍅 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Months of dedication, discovery, and algae-powered breakthroughs 🌿💪 Our Master’s students just defended their theses — exploring how natural extracts can boost soil life and resilience. Huge congratulations to our new graduates! 🎓👏 @itqbnova.bsky.social @istecnico.bsky.social
- 📢 For those who missed the sixth WG2 webinar or those who want to watch it again! Here is the fabulous talk by Professor Andrea Genre (University of Turin): youtu.be/1isYYFOSQc4 #rootbenefit #webinar #mycorrhiza
- 🎃 Our lab turned spooky…but the microbes are serious! We’re investigating the ghost-stories of the soil: how plants call in microbes to protect them from stress. This Halloween, a shout-out to the tiny helpers making crops stronger, soils smarter, and the future greener 🦠🌱 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Great experience at #Microbioma2025 in Córdoba 🌿 Presented our work on seed microbiota and how these microbial partners influence plant health from the start. Many thanks to the organizing team for an inspiring and perfectly run event! 👏 @itqbnova.bsky.social
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- Reposted by iPlantMicro Lab📢 It is tomorrow!!! The first webinar in our second WG2 series!! We will have the pleasure of having two excellent speakers: - Prof. Andrea Genre (University of Turin, Italy). - Dr. Olga Lastovetsky (University College Dublin, Ireland) #costaction conectava.csic.es/B/raf-k1s-mp...
- Today, during anual GREEN-IT meeting at @itqbnova.bsky.social, I shared my experience and project I prepared for ERC. It's a good moment to shout out my lab team, that finally performed awesome to help me in this trip. So really appreciate you guys!
- We are very happy to welcome and host Thomas Sousa, PhD student from Federal University of Ceará, Brazil! He's going to train in hands-on experience our protocols and techniques in plant-microbe interactions as part of his international internship program, welcome Thomas! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Today we're happy to host Santiago from PunaBio! He will expertise how to prepare the formulation we have been developing for extremophile microorganisms. Welcome Santi! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Year 3, in the field again 🌽 We’ve returned to António Teixeira Experimental Station (Coruche), teaming up with Anpromis to validate drought-biotic treatments based on our top greenhouse isolates! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- We’re saying see you soon to Isaac Gaitán from Maria Reguera’s lab (@uam.es), who joined for an inspiring internship exploring root exudates in Amaranthus and Quinoa and microbial inheritance in seeds. Thank you, this is just the start of more to come! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- We’re glad to welcome Ahsen from Abdullah Gül University (Türkiye) 🇹🇷! She’ll be working on characterizing soil microbiota linked to plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses 🌱🧫 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- From a promising student to a cornerstone of our lab — André’s research on halophile bacteria to restore salinized soils just won the Oeiras Valley PoC Award 🌿 A brilliant mind, a generous mentor, and an unstoppable innovator. The future looks bright, and salty in the best way💚 @itqbnova.bsky.social
- We’re excited to welcome Ahsen from Turkey 🇹🇷 as she begins her internship in our lab! 🌍🧪 From airport pickup to first lab introductions, we make sure international students feel at home from day one. Here’s to science, learning, and new friendships! ✨ @itqbnova.bsky.social
- We’re excited to welcome Ahsen from Turkey 🇹🇷 as she begins her internship in our lab! 🌍🧪 From airport pickup to first lab introductions, we make sure international students feel at home from day one. Here’s to science, learning, and new friendships! ✨ @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Really proud to receive the award of PoC INNOVALLEY for our SaltShield proposal! This supposes a great impulse to bring our lab works to real products, and support agriculture under stress. Specially thanks to the Innovation Office and colleagues of @itqbnova.bsky.social, and all my team!
- Happy to participate in the #BIOMEET2025 organized by P-Bio! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Great time at the European Researchers’ Night in Marina de Oeiras! Our iPlantMicro Lab team joined the @itqbnova.bsky.social stand to share our work and talk science with the community!
- 🌱 Huge shoutout to Ioanna, who is doing an outstanding job evaluating the impact of pesticides on soil microbiota! This is a brand-new line in our lab, and we’re thrilled that she’s leading it. Joanna has integrated seamlessly into the team and truly stands out! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- Very proud of you guys! Our lab is dedicated to sharing knowledge widely. Dissemination is central to our mission, from publishing and presenting research to engaging with communities and stakeholders. We believe science has its greatest impact when it reaches/inspires others! @itqbnova.bsky.social
- 🦠🌱 Today our iPlantMicro lab joins @itqbnova.bsky.social at Santo Amaro Beach for #InternationalMicroorganismDay! 👉 Quizzes, games & demos on plant–microbe interactions 📅 Sept 17 | 🕓 16–19h | 📍 Oeiras Come celebrate microbes with us!
- 🌱 Yesterday we kicked off the Master in Plant Biology for Sustainable Agriculture at @itqbnova.bsky.social, welcoming new students. We’re especially excited that our students Luana and Daniel from the are joining this edition! Wishing all new students a great journey toward sustainable agriculture!👩🏻🌾
- Oh nooo, thesis writing is draining the life out of us 😵💫 … but hey, we’ve got this! Our master students are about to rock this! 💪😜 @itqbnova.bsky.social @istecnico.bsky.social
- These tiny fellas are the ancestors of current tomatoes🍅. We’re exploring how they cope with stress by recruiting beneficial microorganisms! Studying their exudates will help us understand processes weakened in modern crops, helping to develop more resilient plants! @itqbnova.bsky.social
