Affiliation: Universita degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Bioscienze

Marta A. Mendes dedicates her research to a series of developmental processes like female germline identity acquisition, ovule development and fertilization in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana. She has been awarded a Doctoral degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Milan (2013) working on the molecular control of the fertilization process. Part of her scientific formation was developed abroad, at Oxford University. Marta currently works as a Senior tenure track at the University of Milan and is an assistant professor, lecturing on Plant Developmental Biology. At present, Marta has several ongoing projects in the lab dealing with the control of ovule development and female germline differentiation both at the transcriptional and epigenetic levels. Furthermore, she also studies the role of the phytohormones auxin and cytokinin during gametogenesis and fertilization.