MEMBER
Elizabeth P B Fontes is a Full Professor from Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), coordinator of the National Institute of Science and Technology in Plant-Pest interaction, a researcher senior fellow level 1A from the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) and member of the Brazilian Academy of Science. She received her BS degree and MS degree from UFV, her PhD degree from North Carolina State University, NCSU, United States, in Plant Molecular Biology. She was a pos-doctor fellow in 1991 and a scientific consultant in 1992 from the Department of Biochemistry, NCSU, USA and she had been on sabbatical leave twice in the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, California, USA in 2003-2004 and 2011-2013. She was head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology/UFV in 2004-2006, Coordinator of the Agrochemistry Graduate Program/UFV in 1994-1996, Coordinator of the Biochemistry Graduate Program/UFV in 2009-2011, Scientific Director of Arthur Beranrdes Foundation in 2006-2011 and a member of the Genetic Committee from CNPq in 2007-2010 and 2014-2017. Currently, she is a member of the Agricultural Committee from Fapemig. The major interest of her lab is on plant defense signaling pathways against biotic and abiotic stresses, more specifically in the area of plant response to geminivirus infection, water deficit and endoplasmic reticulum stress. She has focused primarily on the plant immune system and on the complex molecular network of adaptive responses in plants that integrates the ER-unfolded protein response with the osmotic and cell death signals. More recently, she has been engaged in deciphering the cross-talk between the receptor-like kinase NIK-mediated antiviral defense and developmental signaling in plants. Currently she is associate editor of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, Molecular Plant Pathology, Biotechnology Research & Innovation and she has also served as an assigned associate editor for PLoS Pathogen.
Functional genomics of biotic and abiotic stresses
Endoplasmic reticulum stress responses
Stress-induced cell death response
Plant innate immunity
Geminivirus-host interactions
- Molecular interactions between plants and the biotic and abiotic environment: signaling for defense or multiple-stresses adaptation (Fapemig/CNPq/Funarbe)
- Molecular diagnostic of the stress-induced physiological perturbation in Eucalyptus (COPENER/SIF)
- National Institute in Science and Technology in Plant-Pest Interactions (CNPq/Fapemig/Funarbe)
- Network of begomovirus-host interactions: signaling for disease or resistance (Fapemig/Funarbe)
- Inverse modulation of antiviral and antibacterial immunity by a complex of immune receptors (Fapemig/Funarbe)
Prof. Pedro A.B. Reis, Universidade Federal de Viçosa
Prof. Humberto J. Ramos, Universidade Federal de Viçosa
Dr Joanne Chory, Plant Science Department, Salk Institute of Biological Science, San Diego, CA, USA
Dr Ping He and Libo Shan, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
