Plant microRNAs

Prof. Célia M. Miguel is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal, and Senior Researcher at the BioISI (Biosystems Integrative Sciences Institute). She has been research group leader for more than 10 years, working on the molecular mechanisms that control key developmental processes in trees, and responses to environmental challenges. She has contributed to generate genomic resources in diverse woody plant species, including their small non-coding RNA transcriptomes, and her research has been published in over 40 original research articles in internationally recognized journals.Prof. Tamas Dalmay is the Head of School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. His research group has been working on small non-coding RNAs since 2002 and published about 120 papers on the topic. He worked on small RNAs of many different species and contributed to the UEA workbench, a freely available bioinformatics platform to analyse next generation sequencing data of small RNAs.Dr. Inês Chaves is a senior Researcher at iBET and ITQB NOVA, Oeiras, Portugal. Her work is dedicated to the study of development and stress response of woody plants. Her approach is mainly biochemical but since 2006 she has focused her attention on the role of microRNAs as well as other non-coding small RNAs during these processes. She is also involved in the development of bioinformatic tools to be used in model and non-model species. She has over 20 international publications.

• Studying miRNAs in plants.- Regulation of plant miRNA biogenesis.- Technologies to address plant miRNA functions.- Strategies and resources for the identification of microRNAs in non-model plants.- miRNAs in the formation of epigenetic memory in plants.- miRNAs in plant development.- miRNA regulation of fruit development.- miRNAs in plant embryogenesis.- Emerging of microRNAs as key regulators in plant secondary metabolism.- miRNAs in vascular development.- miRNAs in plant abiotic and biotic stresses.- Regulation of high-temperature stress response by small RNAs.- Role of microRNAs in plant-fungus interactions.- Plant miRNAs regulate innate immunity through diverse mechanisms.