Diana Isabel Calderón Pardo

Centre: Departamento de Ciencias Agrarias y del Medio Natural (Grupo BIOFLORA) EPSHU
Institution: University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza (Spain)
Position: PhD Student
E-mail: dcalderon@unizar.es
Phone: 976762989
Profile:  Ver

Personal statement
Graduated in Environmental Management from the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL, Ecuador) and with a Master’s degree in Environmental Management and Audits from the Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana (UNIB, Puerto Rico). I am currently employed as a young researcher in training at the University of Zaragoza-Escuela Politécnica Superior de Huesca (Unizar-EPSHU) with a full-time N4 contract attached to the project PDC2022-133712-I00 (Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain) for the development of research on grass-endophyte interrelations and mechanisms of vertical and horizontal biological and genomic transfer in the holobiont.

Researcher profile identity
I am currently a N4 researcher, and I study the interactions of species of Brachypodium, Loliinae and other poid grasses with species and varieties of endophytic fungi of the genus Epichloë using cyto-anatomical, biochemical, molecular and genomic approaches, to determine their possible co-evolution and their potential application to plant and environmental improvement within the Bioflora research group.

Why my research is important
Grasses are one of the most important botanical families worldwide, which represents one of the essential systems to investigate for its adaptive characteristics. One of the most diverse genera is Festuca, together with its congener Lolium, and the genus Brachypodium  which are essential to consider as a functional model system for monocotyledons. These species establish symbiosis with endophytic fungi, favouring them with characteristics that improve their survival capacity and competition for resources. Fungi of the Epichloë genus constitute the group of endophytes with high mutualistic rates with these grasses, causing adaptive benefits to their hosts by increasing their tolerance to various abiotic and biotic stresses. This study is extremely important due to the interest in these species and the grass-endophyte symbiotic relationships among the Iberian pasture plant communities in which they are predominant, in the agricultural-livestock activities developed in the country.

Know more about me and my research
– https://bioflora.web.bifi.es/new-page.html
– https://bioflora.web.bifi.es/research-team/profile14.html
–  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-isabel-calderón-pardo-a9a9601b7/