Biology Webinar | Young Researchers in Plant Sciences
the chair
9th Biology Webinar
Young Researchers in Plant Sciences
I am delighted to have invited three outstanding young researchers to this webinar, where we will discuss some of the most cutting-edge biological research. This webinar will provide a forum for scientists to demonstrate several highly fascinating and promising research issues in plant science.
Topics covered include hydroponic plant cultivation, silicon control of fruit metabolism, nickel translocation in olives, and plant-derived nanovesicles.
I'm excited to see the three young scholars present and discuss their most current research findings and ideas during this webinar. The virtual format allows hundreds of researchers globally to access and begin meaningful talks without the need to be present in a single location, saving both money and time.
MDPI is hosting this webinar to promote the Special Issue "Young Researchers in Plant Sciences" of Biology, which was designed to highlight high-quality work and research contributions led by early-career and young plant scientists across all branches of plant biology, hoping to attract a new series of fascinating submissions.
Meet Our Chair
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (DiSTeBA), Salento University, 73100 Lecce, Italy;Luigi De Bellis received an honors degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Pisa (Italy) in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Crop and Fruit Trees Science (University of Pisa in partnership with the Universities of Florence and Siena) in 1986. He worked as graduate technician at the University of Pisa's Department of Agricultural Plant Biology from January 1, 1988, until October 31, 1998 (excluding periods outside of Italy). During this period, he earned postdoctoral research fellowships: Japan, Prof. M. Nishimura, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki (30 months in two separate periods), and United Kingdom, Prof. S.M. Smith, Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Edinburgh (12 months). In November 1998, he became Associate Professor at the University of Lecce (now University of Salento), where he was promoted to full professor in 2002. He was the director of the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies of the University of Salento from March 2012 to March 2020, and he was member of the board of the CMCC (Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change) Lecce, from May 2017 to May 2020. He is a member of the Italian Society of Plant Biology (SIBV) and of the Accademia dei Georgofili - Florence. In addition, he has recently been appointed President of the Academy of Mediterranean Biodiversity Sciences (ASBM - Bari). He also serves as the Editor in Chief of Horticulturae - MPDI and as reviewer for other scientific journals.
Meet Our Speakers
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Università di Pisa, Italy;Research fellow at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Italy. PhD in Agriculture, Food and Environment was awarded in 2017 at the same institution. Research activities focus on plant physiology, metabolism, and nutritional quality, with particular interest in hydroponic and aeroponic systems. Research interests include the study of halophytes as novel crops, their cultivation under saline conditions, and the use of saline water and aquaculture wastewater. Additional researches focus on plant biofortification and innovative controlled-environment systems for producing crops with enhanced nutraceutical value.
Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy;Research fellow in Plant Physiology at the Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy), where a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology was completed in 2025. Research focused on plant-derived nanovesicles, from their isolation and scalable purification to their molecular characterization and biological applications. A multidisciplinary approach that combines extracellular vesicle biology, proteomics, lipidomics, metabolomics, and miRNA profiling was adopted to investigate the molecular composition and bioactivity of plant-derived nanovesicles. Current research focuses on exploring the biological activity of plant-derived nanovesicles in different biological systems and their potential applications in the nutraceutical, agricultural, and biotechnological fields.
Dr. Greta Ricci
Institute of Crop Science, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy;Research fellow at the Institute of Crop Science, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. PhD in Agrobiosciences was awarded in 2026 at the same institution, following an interdisciplinary thesis that integrated physiology, metabolomics, and transcriptomics to investigate the response of tomato and olive plants to heavy metal stress, with a special emphasis on nickel. The research interests include plant stress physiology and the mechanisms that contribute to plant tolerance to abiotic stress.
Young Researchers in Plant Sciences
Edited by Prof. Dr. Luigi De Bellis
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026
This is a FREE webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.
Certificates of attendance will be delivered to those who attend the live webinar.
Can't attend? Register anyway and we'll let you know when the recording is available to watch.
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