FABI and the Department of Genetics welcomed plant molecular biologist Dr Nicky Creux who presented a special seminar entitled "The circadium rhythms regulating heliotropism, floral development and pollinator visits in Helianthus".

Dr Creux completed her PhD thesis at FABI in the Forest Molecular Genetics (FMG) Programme and graduated late 2013. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Davis, in the Department of Plant Biology, under the supervision of Prof. Stacey Harmer, a world authority on circadium rhythms.

Her current project focuses on the underlying mechanisms of sunflower heliotropism and phototropism and she shared some fascinating research findings with her former colleagues.