Carmen Fenoll

Carmen Fenoll is a Full Professor of Plant Biology at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), where she serves as Director of the Department of Environmental Sciences within the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Biochemistry. She has held this position since 2017 and has been a professor at UCLM since 2000. Previously, she was an Associate Professor at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid from 1987-1998. Her academic career includes significant leadership roles such as Vice-rector for Academic Affairs (2003-2007), Director of the Research Institute of Environmental Sciences (2002-2003), and President of the Sociedad Española de Fisiología Vegetal (2017-2021).

Dr. Fenoll earned her PhD in Biological Sciences from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1983 and completed her Master in Biology at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1978. Her academic journey includes postdoctoral research at University of California San Diego (1985-1987) as a Fulbright Fellow and additional postdoctoral work through the California Biotechnology Training Programme (1987-1988). She also served as a Tinker Visiting Full Professor at University of Wisconsin Madison (2002) and conducted research at the Salk Institute (1989).

Her research focuses on plant molecular biology with particular emphasis on stomatal development in Arabidopsis and plant-nematode interactions. Dr. Fenoll's work investigates how root-knot nematodes manipulate plant developmental pathways to form feeding sites, with significant contributions to understanding the molecular mechanisms of gall formation and giant cell development. She has pioneered techniques for studying nematode-plant interactions including laser microdissection and high-quality RNA isolation from infected tissues.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent research trajectory in two interconnected areas: stomatal development genetics and plant-nematode molecular interactions. Her work demonstrates how nematodes hijack plant developmental pathways, particularly those involving transcription factors and small RNA regulation. The research spans from basic molecular mechanisms to potential biotechnological applications for developing nematode-resistant crops.

• Principal Investigator of the Biotechnology and Plant Molecular Biology Research Group
• Head of the Plant Physiology Area at UCLM

Dr. Fenoll has secured substantial research funding throughout her career, managing over 20 grants from 1989-2022 including European Commission projects (FW3, FW4, FW5), Spanish Ministry grants, and regional funding from Junta de Castilla-La Mancha. Her research group has developed innovative approaches to studying plant-nematode interactions, creating resources like the TRANSPLANTA collection of Arabidopsis lines for transcription factor analysis. Current work focuses on epigenetic regulation in nematode feeding sites and the application of omics technologies to identify plant susceptibility factors.