Ana Campilho

I am a plant biologist with internationally recognised contributions to plant developmental genetics. Plants have always sparked my curiosity - how they grow, how they adapt, how their development responds to the environment. My research focuses on the genetic and molecular mechanisms that govern how organs and tissues are formed, patterned, and differentiated across a plant's life cycle.

My research career began at the University of Utrecht (PhD, 2005), where I studied the genetic control of stem cell division in the Arabidopsis root. I then joined the Wood Development lab at the University of Helsinki (2006–2009) to investigate the molecular regulation of vascular tissue identity. Returning to Portugal in 2009, I joined IBMC (now i3S) and I have been at BIOPOLIS-CIBIO since 2015, where I have built a research programme that bridges fundamental plant biology and applied conservation science. I am the founder and Group Leader of PlantDev at BIOPOLIS-CIBIO, a group whose vision is to integrate plant developmental biology into the core of biodiversity science.

Beyond research, I am deeply committed to science education, public engagement, and international collaboration. I supervise students at BSc, MSc, and PhD levels, teach at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, and participate in scientific capacity-building programmes in Portuguese-speaking Africa.

Research Interests
- Periderm and other secondary tissue (e.g. wood) development in trees
- Conservation genomics and developmental biology of Quercus lusitanica
- Rhizome biology and post-fire resprouting mechanisms in woody plants
- Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo) in plants
- Nature-based solutions and biodiversity conservation