New Phytologist Tansley Medal 2023 winner Martina Legris

Last updated: 16 Nov, 2023

We are delighted to announce that the 2023 New Phytologist Tansley Medal for excellence in plant science has been awarded to Martina Legris. 

 

 

Martina is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Integrative Genomics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. She is fascinated by plant developmental plasticity, and has been working on plant development in response to light and temperature signals from the environment using a variety of techniques, including molecular genetics, genome-wise expression studies, cell biology, biochemistry, and imaging of growth processes. In her Tansley insight 'Light and temperature regulation of leaf morphogenesis in Arabidopsis', Martina reviews the latest discoveries and understanding of environmental regulation of Arabidopsis leaf development, comparing signalling mechanisms between leaves and seedlings.

 

We also congratulate four outstanding Tansley Medal finalists:

 

Adrien Burlacot is a Principle Investigator in the Department of Plant Biology at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA. Adrien's Tansley insight is titled 'Quantifying the roles of algal photosynthetic electron pathways: a milestone towards photosynthetic robustness'.

 

James Clark is a Research Fellow at the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, UK. James' Tansley insight is titled 'Genome evolution in plants and the origins of innovation'.

 

Jenn Coughlan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution, at Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. Jenn's Tansley insight is titled 'The role of conflict in shaping plant biodiversity'.

 

Jiorgos Kourelis is a Senior Postdoctoral Scientist at The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK. Jiorgos' Tansley insight is titled 'Interplay between cell-surface receptor and intracellular NLR-mediated immune responses'.

 

We offer our warmest congratulations to Martina and her fellow finalists, and wish them continued success in their future careers.

 

 

The New Phytologist Tansley Medal for excellence in plant science is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding contributions to research by individuals in the early stages of their career. Applications for the 2024 New Phytologist Tansley Medal have closed, but you can be the first to know when applications for the 2025 New Phytologist Tansley Medal open by signing up to our mailing list. 

 

The judging panel for the 2023 Tansley Medal competition was comprised of New Phytologist Editors: Amy T. Austin (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Ian A. Dickie (Canterbury, New Zealand) Liam Dolan (Vienna, Austria), Elena M. Kramer (Cambridge, MA, USA) and Shuhua Yang (Beijing, China). 

 

Supporting early career scientists 

 

The New Phytologist Foundation supports early career plant scientists, through a number of initiatives including the annual Tansley Medal competition and the New Phytologist next generation scientists symposium. New Phytologist next generation scientists 2024 will be held at Duke University, Durham, NC, USA, on 5–8 June 2024. Applications are open now and will close on 6 December 2023.  

 

We encourage applications from across the breadth of the plant science community – please share this opportunity with your colleagues and students world-wide! 

 

The New Phytologist Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation committed to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and research in plant science. The Foundation currently fulfils this objective by publishing the scholarly journals New Phytologist and Plants, People, Planet and by funding a wide range of activities, such as the international New Phytologist Symposia and Workshop series, awarding grants, and the sponsorship of awards such as the Tansley Medal, named after New Phytologist’s founder Sir Arthur Tansley.