2024 PCA Travel Award Recipient

Virginia Lis Barrera, Rosario, Argentina
Meet Virginia Lis Barrera, the 2024 PCA Travel Award recipient. Virginia obtained a Master's degree in Biotechnology in 2019 and is now a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Biological Sciences program at the National University of Rosario. Virginia is currently studying the mechanisms that determine cell number, size, and ploidy during postembryonic plant development using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism, aiming to identify new regulators and understand the interactions between these pathways. The main goal of Virginia’s thesis is to determine the role of endoreplication in these processes and its consequences. Virginia’s PCA Travel Award will provide full support to attend the 2024 Plant Cell Atlas Symposium in East Lansing, Michigan, USA.

Deep learning and 3D isosurface rending reveals the spatial relationship of cell mitochondria (blue), Golgi and Golgi vesicles (green) and cell wall with plasmodesmata voids (magenta) in barley root using serial block-face scanning electron microscopy. Photo credt: K. Czymmek

Reconstruction of an Arabidopsis first leaf from a six-day old seedling. Photo credit: F. Bossi

ER marker (green) and anthocyanin (magenta) in Arabidopsis epidermal cells. Photo credit: Alexandra Chanoca (Otegui Lab)