Ana Gonçalves Leite de Assunção

My area of research includes plant nutrition, plant functional biology, genetics and adaptation to abiotic stress, with a focus on micronutrient metal transport and homeostasis regulation. My research is anchored at the Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factors bZIP19 and bZIP23 (F-bZIP family), which have a dual role as zinc sensors and key regulators of the response to zinc deficiency. From here I take fundamental and translational approaches to understand i) how F-bZIP protein activity senses and controls zinc homeostasis at cellular and organism levels, ii) how these mechanisms evolved, iii) and how they can be modulated to improve the zinc nutritional value (biofortification) and zinc-use efficiency of crop species.

I have a degree in Agricultural Engineering from UTAD, Vila Real (1997) and a PhD in Plant Physiology and Genetics from the Free University of Amsterdam, VU (2003). Following a postdoctoral position at VU (2003-2005), I moved to the Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University, WUR, as a VENI-laureate from the Dutch Research Council (2005-2009). I was an associate researcher at the University of Copenhagen (2009-2011), and in 2011 I moved to CIBIO-University of Porto. In 2015, I received a YDUN grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF) and I was appointed Associate Professor at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen. In 2024 I returned to CIBIO-BIOPOLIS, where I now head the Plant Nutrition Group (http://plantnutrition@biopolis.pt).

I am member of the Portuguese Society of Plant Biology (SPBP) and the Society for Research on Trace Metal Metabolism in Plants (PLANTMETALS), being the deputy leader of the metal transport workgroup. 

Recent research funding as principal investigator:

2026-2028 Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, R&D project

2020-2023 Independent Research Fund Denmark, Research Project-2

2019-2022 Novo Nordisk Foundation, Biotechnology-based Research

2018-2021 Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, R&D project (co-PI)

2015-2019 Independent Research Fund Denmark, YDUN program