Professor skilled in Plant Science, Plant Nutrients, Ecophysiology, Analytical Chemistry, and Research Management. Strong education professional with a PhD in agronomy from Københavns Universitet / University of Copenhagen.

My research deals with the mineral nutrition of agricultural crops. I have provided new fundamental knowledge to processes involved in acquisition of mineral elements from soil and on the functional role of mineral elements in metabolism. Currently my lab has a strong focus on integrating nanotechnology with plant science to fundamentally understand how nanoparticles interact with plant tissue and how we can utilize this knowledge to build the next generation of more efficient fertilizers. Concurrent with these activities, my lab has developed a range of new cutting-edge analytical techniques for mass-spectrometry-based analysis of mineral elements, their stable isotope ratios, chemical binding forms, and localization in tissue with cellular resolution.

Birte is a biophysicist with a background in soft matter and structural characterization. Currently she is involved in plant science and the improvement of fertilization strategies by employing nanoparticles as foliar delivery systems.
She has previously worked on lipid-based nanoparticles for vaccine delivery purposes and sustainable textile fibers based on regenerated cellulose. Her focus has been on the synthesis, structural characterization and establishing structure-activity relationships of the self-assemblies. She has a strong background in applying scattering techniques (light, X-ray) to characterize nanoparticles.

Andrea received his MSc in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Turin, Italy. Andrea joined the Husted lab in 2019 as MSc student to work on his thesis project, investigating the interaction between hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and the plasma membrane in single cells. Andrea’s research currently focuses on studying and modeling the uptake and translocation pathways of foliar-applied Mn-based nanoparticles and their use as alternative foliar fertilizers.

Asbjørn has a BSc in Natural Resources from University of Copenhagen (2020). He has skills in the IT sector, as he studied two years of the bachelor in Software Development at the IT University of Copenhagen (2015-2017). Currently, he writes his MSc thesis in the group, and studies how surfactants can enhance the uptake of nanoparticle into plants.

Tommaso did his bachelor in “Agricultural Sciences and Technologies” at the Polytechnic University of Marche, in Italy. After that, he initiated his Masters in Agricultural Sciences in Denmark, where he shifted his focus onto Plant Science. During his Master Tommaso developed a strong interest and passion for plant nutrition. His research interests lie mostly on single cells, as a platform to study nanoparticles internalization. He is really keen on protoplasts isolation from leaf tissues, but he is also working with BY-2 and Soybean cells culture.

Thomas Hesselhøj Hansen, Stine Le Tougaard

Since 2022 Daniel is a tenured Assistant Professor with experience in Laser Ablation-ICP-MS, Liquid chromatography-ICP-MS, protein analysis , plant cultivation with trace element stress or deficiency.

Augusta holds a MSc in Agriculture from University of Copenhagen and started working in the group as a research assistant performing yearly field experiments with phosphorus deficiency and foliar phosphorus applications in potato and barley. Besides working in the field, she studied the interactions between roots and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles finding these particles were taken up intact and were able to fully restore phosphorus functionalities in the plant.

Currently, she is working as a staff scientist involved in the different research projects ranging broad between synthesizing nanoparticles and study leaf uptake in our own laboratories and greenhouse. Besides, she works as the link between the different research collaborators involved in the projects, developing new sample methods and planning experiments.

Augusta is currently on maternity leave.

Pauline has a BSc in Natural Resources with a specialization in Environmental Science and a MSc in Agriculture with a specialization in Production and Environment, both from the University of Copenhagen. She joined the Plant Nutrition research group in 2020 when she started her thesis project, studying the soil mobility and plant availability of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles. Since then she has been investigating the interactions between plant roots, nanoparticles and soil components, in order to understand the behavior of phosphate-containing nanoparticles in soil and their potential as an alternative P fertilizer.

Francesco has a BSc in Viticulture and Enology and a MSc in Agriculture. During his PhD he is working on the development of nanofertilizers capable of reducing the environmental impact of phosphorus use in agriculture. Before starting his academic career, his professional experience mainly revolved around the winemaking industry. Over time, his focus has shifted towards fundamental research in plant science, and his expertise spans now across new and different areas, including biological imaging, analytical chemistry and nanoscience.

Idil has a MSc from Sabanci University in Turkey. During her thesis she focused on the effects of root mycorrhizal colonization and phosphorous supply on cadmium accumulation in rice. Currently, she works as a Research Assistant in the group and studies how different properties of nanoparticles influence nutritional states of plants.

After finishing her PhD at the University of Liege Noémie joined our team to work on the LIPOSOME project for a year.

Dorine has studied Biotechnology in Wageningen (NL) . The research she conducted during her PhD focused on the molecular mechanism steering non-coding DNA transcription. Now, as Scientific Project Manager she takes care of all non-science related project management tasks.

During his PhD Grmay studied the molecular mechanisms by which F-bZIP transcription factors sense and regulate plant Zn status. Recently he joined the group to do his Postdoc, and investigates pathways for foliar uptake and internalization of nanoparticles, exploring cellular processes and tools that trigger endocytosis, subcellular targeting and programmed release of nanoparticle-encapsulated plant nutrients.

He has experimented with Arabidopsis, Medicago and Rice plants; employed a wide-range of genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic tools; and utilized various microscopic imaging techniques. Also he has experience with several bioinformatics tools, tissue culture and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing.

Max has a background in biotechnology, forest and environmental science, He got fascinated by biogeochemistry and specifically nutrient behavior in soils and plants. Currently, he is working to synthesize and characterize hydroxyapatite nanoparticles in order to study uptake pathways into plants by using different imaging techniques such as confocal microscopy, LA-ICP-MS, and soon TEM-EDXS. Hereby, he wants to contribute to the development of a new generation of efficient fertilizers in order to reduce environmental and social impacts of resource overuse.

Lena is our lab technician supporting all activities on the ICP-MS platform and the general work in the lab.

Morten is our much appreciated gardener, who are taking care of our plants in climate chambers and greenhouses.

Interested to work with us?
Future PhDs and Postdocs, contact us via dorine.dumee@plen.ku. We like pro-active people!