2022 CDA Spring Lecture Series: Łucja Kowalewska

Cubic and Lamellar Configurations of Plant Plastid Membranes and their Structural Dynamics Speaker: Łucja Kowalewska Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Anatomy and Cytology, University of Warsaw (Poland) Theme: The many facets of chloroplasts Hosted by Dr. Juan Camilo Moreno Beltran. Abstract Internal membranes of plastids can adopt multiple structural configurations depending on the plant ontogenesis stage and aberrations in lipid-protein-pigment composition. Kowalewska will present the structure-composition interplay in the self-organization and maintenance of cubic and lamellar arrangements. She will introduce the ultrastructural basis of membrane interconversions – from cubic prolamellar bodies of etioplasts to lamellar thylakoids of fully developed chloroplasts and finally, their possible transformation to large length-scale cubic assemblies. 2D and 3D ultrastructural analyses performed using novel analytical methods (e.g., SPIRE software) will be supplemented with biochemical and functional results. About the speaker Łucja Kowalewska received her PhD degree in Biology from the University of Warsaw in 2015 and is currently employed at the Faculty of Biology in the Department of Plant Anatomy and Cytology as Assistant Professor. In 2019, she was a Visiting Scientist at Copenhagen University developing interdisciplinary collaboration to study the basis of cubic membrane formation in plants. Kowalewska has combined expertise in 2D and 3D ultrastructural studies of plastids using TEM and electron tomography and in in vivo spatial studies of chloroplasts using confocal microscopy. She also supplements her structural studies with biochemical and biophysical analyses to reveal the connection between the structure and function of the internal plastid membrane network. Visit https://cda.kaust.edu.sa/events/spring-lecture-series-2022 to view the full Spring Lecture Series schedule Brought to you by the Center for Desert Agriculture