Magdalini Tsitsikli
Postdoctoral researcher
Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg
In 2017, Magda obtained her bachelor’s diploma from the Department of ‘Biochemistry and Biotechnology’ (Larisa, Greece). Her bachelor thesis in mammalian phylogenetics was conducted at the lab of ‘Genetics, Comparative and Evolutionary Biology’ under the supervision of Prof. Z. Mamouris. Her Master’s thesis was conducted in the lab of ‘Plant and Environmental Biotechnology’, with Prof. K. Papadopoulou as her supervisor. Her work predominantly focused on legume-rhizobia symbiosis, exploring the impact of Cytokinin on the Auto-regulation Of Nodulation (AON) system in legume-rhizobia symbiosis. Shortly after graduating in 2019, she began her doctoral studies in the lab of “Plant Molecular Biology and Genetics” at Aarhus University, under the supervision of Prof. S. Radutoiu and Prof K.R. Andersen. Her PhD project was a part of the ENSA consortium. Throughout her doctoral studies, she researched plant receptor-like kinases, their pivotal role in recognizing microorganism-derived elicitors, and their contribution to the activation of symbiotic and immune pathways.
Magda became a part of Prof. T. Ott team as a PostDoc in October 2023. She is a member of the ENSA consortium, with a specific focus on uncovering novel components of the infection machinery within root-nodule symbiosis.
Interested in: rhizobia infection, evolution of symbioses