People

Principal Investigator

Priya Ramakrishna is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering and leads the Plant Adaptation Laboratory (PAL) at EPFL.

She was a postdoc at the Laboratory of Biological Geochemistry at EPFL where she led the first application of the newly developed CryoNanoSIMS ion imaging pipeline on plant tissues. The study revealed new insights into subcellular strategies plants use to cope with salinity stress. She holds an Engineering in Biotech from India, with Masters and PhD in plant biology from the University of Nottingham, UK and postdoc at the University of Geneva.

Emylène Ostertag is a laboratory technician specialized in biology. After her apprenticeship at EPFL in a research laboratory of environmental biotechnology, she did 3 years of neuroscience research at the CHUV. Since January 2025, She works in the LGB group at EPFL, while also providing support to PAL and studies symbiosis and functionalities of marine and terrestrial ecosystem.  Skilled in molecular biology, immunology, microbiology and proteomics, she is also passionate about nature, technology, sports and spirituality.

She loves to laugh and meet people from all around the world!

Postdoc

Francesca Cazzaniga is a postdoc with a strong background in molecular biology and genetics. She obtained her degree in Biotechnology from the University of Milan and a PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Sapienza University of Rome. Throughout her scientific journey, she has been driven by a common goal: Understanding how plants respond to stress conditions, with a particular focus on salt stress during her doctoral studies. At PAL she investigates in greater depth how plant roots adapt to saline environments. Passionate about molecular biology, genetics, and genome engineering applied to plant systems, she is equally fascinated by biodiversity and nature conservation.

Outside the lab, she enjoys outdoor adventures, especially those involving plenty of snow and skiing.