Aimee Uyehara
Co-Chair
Postdoctoral Researcher
PI: Dominique Bergmann
Stanford University
Full Biography
Aimee Uyehara was born and raised on Oahu, Hawai’i. She is currently a postdoc in Dominique Bergmann’s lab at Stanford University studying cell polarity in stomatal development. As a PhD student in Carolyn Rasmussen’s lab at the University of California, Riverside, Aimee studied the mechanisms that promote proper cell division plane orientation in maize with focus on interactions between the cytoskeleton and the division site protein TANGLED1. During her MS with Michael Muszynski at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, she characterized how crosstalk between cytokinin and jasmonic acid affected maize growth. Outside of the lab, she likes to hike, bake, and spend time with her two cats, Soba and Gnocchi
Xiaohui Li
Co-Chair
Postdoctoral Researcher
PI: Trevor Nolan
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Full Biography
Xiaohui Li, originally from China, is currently a postdoc in the Trevor Nolan lab at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). His research employs spatial transcriptomics and single-cell RNA sequencing to address fundamental questions in organismal development of Arabidopsis root. Xiaohui earned his PhD at Purdue University in 2024, studying exocytosis process and developing chemical genetics tool to modulate subcellular activities with Chunhua Zhang and Chris Staiger.Xiaohui joined the leadership team of Plant Postdocs at the end of 2024, aiming to expand the positive impact of Plant Postdocs in fostering a collaborative and supported research community. Previously, he also served as a Plantae Fellow with the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) (2022-2023), and an Early Career Scholar Subcommittee member at the North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee (2023-2024). He strives to promote accessibility and inclusiveness in academia, and in 2024, he co-founded the Plant Method Exchange (PMEX) platform with his colleagues, providing a free open-access platform to share high-quality and detailed research protocols in plant biology research
Arif Ashraf
Co-Founder, Team Member
Assistant Professor of Botany
University of British Columbia, Canada
Full Biography
Arif is born and raised in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka. He is an Assistant Professor of Biology department at Howard University. His lab works on cell division and how plants respond to climate change at cellular level. Previously, he was a postdoc in the Facette lab, Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst. His postdoctoral research focuses on cell polarity, nuclear movement, and asymmetric cell division for stomatal development in the crop plant, maize. Arif’s doctorate thesis helped to identify the role of membrane proteins as signaling components and transporters for abiotic stress, which is fundamentally crucial for root development and hormonal regulation.
Arif served as an ambassador for American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) (2015-2020) and a Plantae fellow (2019-2020). He is the recipient of ASPB‘s Ambassador of the year award in 2019. He translated the book “My Life as a Plant” into Bengali. Arif loves to read, write, and talk about science. He served as an Editorial board member with Maize Genetics and Genomics Database (MaizeGDB) (2019-2022). He is currently a Feature Editor at Molecular Plant. In his podcast, No Time To Read, discusses recently published plant biology stories with the lead authors.
Hannah Märkle
Leadership Team Member
Postdoctoral Researcher
PI: Joy Bergelson
New York University
Full Biography
Hanna is an evolutionary biologist studying host–pathogen coevolution, with a particular focus on the evolutionary dynamics of plant resistance genes. Her current research explores the ecological, genomic, and functional factors shaping the evolution of plant resistance (R) genes in Arabidopsis thaliana, Cardamine hirsuta, and Draba verna. She integrates genomic analyses, bioinformatics, and computational modeling to uncover the processes driving resistance gene evolution.
Israel L. Cunha Neto
Leadership Team Member
Asst. Professor of Biological Sciences
Florida International University
Full Biography
Israel L. Cunha-Neto is currently an Assistant Professor at the International Center for Tropical Botany in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University. His research focuses on understanding the diversity and evolution of plants. Using an integrative approach that includes evolutionary developmental biology, genetics, and functional biology, Israel’s work highlights the patterns and processes that generate and maintain plant diversity. He joined the Plant Postdoc Leadership Team in the spring of 2023 and is actively involved with the Botanical Society of America (BSA). Outside of academia, he has a passion for music and sports; he is a trained flutist and a self-taught guitarist, and a two-time ping-pong doubles champion at NYU’s Department of Biology.
Ariadna Gonzalez Solis
Leadership Team Member
Postdoctoral Researcher
PI: Marisa Otegui
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Full Biography
Ariadna, originally from Mexico City, is currently a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the lab of Marisa Otegui. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that allow cells to control the degradation of plasma membrane proteins involved in plant development and signaling. During her masters and PhD, Ariadna studied the structure, function and metabolism of plant lipids. She enjoys teaching biochemistry and mentoring students.
In her spare time, she likes hiking, biking and running.
Rebecca (BeKa) Leuschen-Kohl
Leadership Team Member
Postdoctoral Researcher
KU Center for Genomics
PI: Maggie Wagner
University of Kansas
Full Biography
BeKa is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kansas, working under the guidance of Dr. Maggie Wagner. She earned her PhD at Purdue University, where her dissertation focused on understanding how Solanaceous (tomato and pepper) roots recognize bacteria and trigger broad-spectrum immune responses. As a KU Center for Genomics Fellow and NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biology, her current work explores maize-microbiome interactions and how plant immune receptors shape these relationships, with the goal of applying molecular insights to enhance agricultural resilience.
BeKa is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and spends much of her time working to increase the visibility of higher education and post-baccalaureate degrees to underrepresented communities. She and fellow Alfred P. Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership fellow Taymee Brandon founded Gateways to Graduate School – an open-access platform helping students to navigate the graduate school admissions process. Outside the lab, she also enjoy spending time outdoors, trying new recipes, playing board games, and watching or playing soccer.
Sonal Sachdev
Leadership Team Member
Postdoctoral Researcher
Center for Genomics
PI: Carol Huang
New York University
Full Biography
Sonal is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Department of Biology, NYU. She completed her Ph.D. early this year and started her postdoc journey in the USA. During her Graduate research, she studied the mechanism underlying Pollen development and unveiled a crucial involvement of Chromatin remodelers in orchestrating plant hormone Jasmonic acid and its role in the development of the male gametophyte. Currently, she is exploring the fascinating world of DNA-Protein interactions governing the developmental and stress response pathways in Arabidopsis. She is an ASPB ambassador, a Plantae Fellow, an SEB mentor, and now serving on the PlantPostdocs Leadership Team. She is looking forward to working with the amazing PlantPostdocs team and learning a great deal along the way. She thoroughly enjoys- reading fiction & novels revolving around history, gardening and her newly found interest is crocheting during her time away from the lab.
Yu-Chin Chiu
Leadership Team Member
Method Development Staff Scientist
Laboratory Corporation of America
Full Biography
Yu-Chun Chiu, originally from Taiwan, currently serves as a method development staff scientist in the drug development section at Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp). She obtained her PhD in Plant and Soil Sciences from West Virginia University, where she specialized in the study of plant secondary metabolite glucosinolates in Brassica vegetables. Her research focused on the effect of methyl jasmonate on primary and secondary metabolites and sensory attributes of Brassica vegetables, using GC-MS and UHPLC-PDA techniques. Subsequently, Yu-Chun underwent post-doctoral training in The Molecular Education, Technology and Research Innovation Center (METRIC) at North Carolina State University, specializing in mass spectrometry method development and metabolomics. During her training, she developed expertise in using these techniques to comprehensively analyze complex biological samples, including the identification and quantification of metabolites, lipids, and proteins.
Plant Postdocs 