Stéphanie Robert, professor at SLU and group leader at Umeå Plant Science Centre, has been elected to the EMBO Membership. Photo: Erik Abel
The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) has elected Stéphanie Robert as one of its newest members. The lifelong honour recognises outstanding contributions to the life sciences and welcomes her into an international community of more than 2,100 leading researchers.
Election to the EMBO Membership is one of the most prestigious recognitions in the life sciences in Europe. Each year, researchers are elected in recognition of outstanding scientific achievements and contribute to EMBO's activities, helping strengthen research across Europe and beyond. This year, 71 scientists from 23 countries have been elected as new Members and Associate Members.
“I am thrilled and honoured to have been elected an EMBO Member, and I look forward to contributing to the EMBO community,” says Stéphanie Robert. “I want to share this recognition with the many fantastic members of my research group at UPSC over the years. Their contribution has been priceless, bringing energy, enthusiasm and a real sense of fun to science. It has been fantastic to see them grow as scientists.”
Stéphanie Robert studies how plants grow and develop, with a particular focus on how individual plant cells acquire their shapes. Together with her research group, she investigates the biological processes that control cell shape and how these processes are coordinated to form tissues and organs in plants, such as leaves, roots, and stems.
Her team explores how plant hormones, the cell wall and transport systems inside cells work together to shape plant growth and form. By understanding these mechanisms, they aim to explain how plants can precisely control their development and adjust their growth to changing environmental conditions.
After completing her PhD in plant science in Paris in 2005, Stéphanie Robert held postdoctoral positions in the United States and Belgium before settling in Umeå in 2010. There, she joined SLU and founded her research group at the Umeå Plant Science Centre, eventually becoming professor in 2021.
Since establishing her research group at UPSC, Stéphanie Robert has secured several major research grants as lead applicant, including a research project grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and an ERC Synergy Grant. Her research has also been recognised with the Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Foundation Award.
Beyond recognising scientific excellence, EMBO Membership gives researchers the opportunity to contribute to the organisation's activities and help shape its scientific programmes through the evaluation of funding applications and service on committees and advisory boards.
Stéphanie Robert is the third researcher at Umeå Plant Science Centre to become an EMBO Member, joining Rishikesh Bhalerao and Ove Nilsson.
Link to the official press release from EMBO
For questions, please contact:
Stéphanie Robert
Umeå Plant Science Centre
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Email:
https://www.upsc.se/stephanie_robert