Sara Forlani

Sara Forlani is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki, affiliated with the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences and the Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme. She works in Dr. Anne Vaten’s laboratory, focusing on plant developmental plasticity in response to environmental changes, particularly in Arabidopsis thaliana and Betula pendula.

• Education: PhD in Environmental Sciences (Università degli Studi di Milano, 2021); MSc in Molecular Biotechnologies and Bioinformatics (2017); BSc in Biotechnologies (2015).

Research Interests center on plant developmental biology, senescence, and environmental adaptation. Her work explores NAC transcription factors, stomatal lineage dynamics, and hormonal regulation under climate change stressors like elevated CO₂.

Publications reflect her expertise in Plant Biology, Genetics, and Developmental Biology, with recent contributions on NAC gene functions, plastid homeostasis, and fruit senescence mechanisms.

• Scientific Awards: MSCA Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2023); Best Poster Prize at Flower Development Workshop (2019); PhD Scholarship (2017).

Professional Experience includes postdoctoral work at the University of Helsinki (2022-present), a Marie Curie fellowship (2023-2025), and prior research at Università degli Studi di Milano (2020-2022). She has also collaborated internationally, including a short research stay in Mexico (2018).