PI
Dr. Ronan Sulpice
Dr Ronan Sulpice is a Lecturer in the School of Natural Sciences at NUI Galway (Ireland) since 2012. He obtained his PhD from the University of Rennes (France) in 2000. This was followed by Researcher positions at the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB, Japan), the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (MPIMP, Germany). Dr Sulpice interests focus at elucidating in photosynthetic organisms the cross talk between primary metabolism and growth, with special emphasis at how the environment modulate them.
Postdocs
Dr. Masami Inaba
Vicci Project
Identification of markers responsible of the adaptation of ryegrass varieties to cold and nutrient deficiency
Dr. Marcus McHale
BreedCafs Project
Dr. Matthias Schmid
MSCA Research Fellow
Research interests: I am interested how the environmental conditions shape seaweeds and how seaweeds influence their environment. I received a PhD from NUIG in 2016, during which I investigated the variability of bioactive compounds in seaweeds in response to environmental stressors. After finishing my PhD, I received an Australian Endeavour Fellowship as well as a German Research Council Grant to work in the group of Prof. Catriona Hurd at the University of Tasmania (Australia). I then worked on a kelp project in the group of Nessa O’Connor at Trinity College Dublin. In 2022, I joined the group of Ronan Sulpice as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow and am currently investigating various tools for strain selection of the red seaweed Palmaria palmata.
email: matthias.schmid@universityofgalway.ie
Ph.D Students
Charlene Linderhof
Marei SFI centre/Arramara project
Evaluating the effects of harvesting knotted wrack Ascophyllum nodosum on Irish coastal ecosystems. Recommendations towards best practice and resource management
Charlène graduated in BSc Applied Biology at the Aeres University of Almere (The Netherlands), during which she learnt about plant biotechnology and seaweed 
cultivation at Wageningen University. After her BSc, she made a Pre-Master in biology at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG, the Netherlands). During her internships at NIOZ Texel and the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway, she obtained skills in seaweed identification and seaweed cultivation. In Sulpice lab she is studying the ecological effects of Ascophyllum nodosum harvesting to develop recommendations for best seaweed harvest practices.
C.Linderhof1@nuigalway.ie
Kallyne Ambrósio Barros
Regulation of barley growth in response to environmental factors
Kallyne holds a CNPq fellowship, Science Without Borders programme from Brazil. She graduated in Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Minas Gerais, Brazil; where she also got MSc. in Plant Physiology. She worked on plant anatomy, alternative mitochondrial metabolism, and the role of organic acids in stomatal movements. In Sulpice lab, she is working on the primary metabolism of barley plants grown under different stresses.
Msc Students
Inés Coca Tagarro
GenialG project
The role of seaweed aquaculture in maintaining and enhancing biodiversity: a case study comparing two cultivated kelp species native to Ireland.
Undergraduate Students
Visiting Students
Marta Crespo Sanchez
Jorge Santa maría San Segundo
Past lab members
Dr. Antoine Fort
Antoine originally worked on plant improvement in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana, by using whole genome duplications and their associated growth, genetic and epigenetic responses. In Sulpice’s lab, Antoine specialises in green and brown algae growth monitoring and performance assessment, through the use of custom-made phenotyping platforms. Antoine aims to characterise the effect(s) of the genetic diversity of green and brown algae on growth and metabolism.
Dr Jose M. Fariñas-Franco
Lecturer at the GMIT, Galway, Ireland since september 2019
Dr Jose M. Fariñas-Franco is a marine benthic ecologist, taxonomist and scientific diver with more than 15 years’ experience working in industry and academia. His main research interests are the biodiversity of marine benthic communities, especially the role of keystone species and the conservation and ecological restoration of marine habitats. As a postdoctoral researcher within the GENIALG project, Jose is studying the effects of cultivated algae (e.g. the sugar kelp Saccharina latissima) and associated growing structures in coastal ecosystems, focusing on their interaction with local biodiversity and faunal community assemblages. Jose is also an adjunct lecturer in Zoology at the Ryan Institute, NUI Galway.
JOSEMARIA.FARINASFRANCO@nuigalway.ie
Dr. Alberto Abrantes Esteves Ferreira
Growth and metabolism in cyanobacteria
Alberto graduated in Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Minas Gerais, Brazil; where he also got his MSc. in Plant Physiology. Currently, he holds a CAPES/Science Without Borders PhD fellowship and works on the ecophysiology and metabolism of cyanobacteria, seeking to identify the growth limiting factors of these microorganisms and improve their production of biomass and bioproducts. Alberto obtained his Ph.D in February 2018.
Dr Xiaozhen Han
Past Undergraduate Students
- Eoin Dunne
- Daniel Durkin
- Catherine Rooney
- James Noonan
- Morgane Lebrault (2nd year ENSAIA, University of Lorraine, France)
- Margot Allaire (2nd year Student, University of Le Mans, France)
Plant Systems Biology Lab 