Biography
Dr. Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso is Professor in Interdisciplinary Plant Sciences at the University of Leeds (UK). She was born in Cuba and graduated in Chemistry at the University of Cordoba, Spain. Yoselin did her PhD in plant biochemistry and molecular biology in Spain followed by postdoctoral research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York (USA) and at the John Innes Centre (Norwich, UK). In 2017, she was appointed Lecturer at the University of Leeds, where she secured multiple funding including a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. Yoselin’s research group focuses on cell walls properties surrounding plant intercellular channels (i.e. plasmodesmata) with the goal to unlock knowledge for the development of new strategies for crop improvement and biomaterial development. Yoselin’s interdisciplinary research is supported by several networks and centers including the Astbury Centre for Structural Biology and the Bragg Centre for Material Research. She has published over 50 research articles which were cited >3300 times and is part of the advisory or trustee board for the journals ‘Current Biology’, ‘New Phytologist’ and ‘Trend in Plant Sciences’. She contributes to diverse funding panels including UKRI, ERC and the Royal Society. She advocates for equity, diversity and inclusion and co-founded the Black in Plant Science Network (https://blackinplantscience.org/) dedicated to connect, celebrate and cultivate the next generation of plant scientists in UK. Yoselin has received the ‘Education and Academic Leader of the Year’ Forward Ladies Award and the UKRI Impact Award for ‘Advancing Research Culture’ among other accolades. Yoselin has been an Advisor at New Phytologist since 2020 and a member of The New Phytologist Foundation Board of Trustees since 2025.