I am Coline and I come from Lyon, in France. I have just arrived in Belgium, where I will spend the coming few years at the University of Antwerp within the FutureArctic Project, as ESR1.

About my educational background, I first got a lab technician diploma from Saint-Genis Laval LEGTA (France) and pursued my studies at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) where I got an Honours Degree in Environmental Protection. At last, I spent the last two years in Lyon University to do a Masters in Plant Biology.

Throughout my studies, I developed a strong interest in soil microbiology which I see as a key area to study to fully understand and improve plant growth. I have thus had the opportunity to participate in several research projects that mainly focused on interactions between plants and microorganisms of the rhizosphere. Amongst those, I had the chance to do my master’s thesis in Rio Cuarto, Argentina, where I was looking at the impacts of a bacterial strain that is applied as inoculant to millions of hectares of crops in South America on plant microRNAs.

Regarding the FutureArctic Project, I will be looking at the structure of the soil microbiomes in warming grasslands. This will mainly involve quite a bit of molecular biology work in the lab, but I am also hoping to perform some greenhouse experiments in order to understand how microbiomes are associated to root-mediated plant responses to temperature.

To achieve this, I will have the chance to collaborate with other ESRs and more generally the scientists involved in the FutureArctic Project, which I am really looking forward!