My journey in plant biochemistry began at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade, where I earned both my BA and PhD. Driven by enthusiasm and curiosity how plants sense their environment and use the integration of these signals to grow optimally, I did my postdoc at Germany’s Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben where the exciting scientific atmosphere deepened my love for plant biochemistry.

For over a decade, I gained my expertise as a young researcher at the Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, followed by five formative years as an Associate Research Professor at the IMGGE in Group for Plant Molecular Biology. Along the way, I was privileged to collaborate with brilliant teams across Europe, with each encounter broadening my perspective on plant adaptation and resilience.

I began independent scientific work on variegated Pelargonium zonaleas the Principal Investigator of a bilateral project with the University of Angers in 2018. Soon after, I embraced the challenge of leading a national project, LEAPSyn-SCI, funded by Serbia’s Science Fund, becoming a leader of a small, but dedicated team, focused on the extraordinary LEA proteins of the resurrection plant Ramonda serbica—an ancient and mighty survivor of extreme drought. Since then, I’ve spearheaded dozen national and international projects, including roles as a work package leader in Horizon Europe’s ZeNCure project, and participated in 14 others exploring the plant-environment interactions.

My research is focused on proteins—their structures, interactions, and the enigmatic behavior of intrinsically disordered proteins like LEA proteins. I’m equally captivated by plants’ metabolic processes: how they allocate carbon and nitrogen from source to sink leaf tissue and how they regulate redox balance, through the interplay of pro-oxidants (reactive oxygen species) and antioxidants, particularly secondary metabolites (phenylpropanoids, flavonoids and anthocyanins). Underlying it all is a quest to decode how plants endure high light intensity, nitrogen deprivation, UV-B radiation, drought and cold stress.

At the bench I am deeply committed to the optimization of advanced analytical and imaging methods to study non-model plant species, introducing more diversity into the fascinated adaptive plant strategies to adverse environmental conditions. I strongly believe that their resilience holds the keys to new human therapeutic approaches, and sustainable solutions in food industry, cosmetics, and even cryopreservation.

I live in Belgrade, Serbia, with my family and two adored and endlessly curious cats, which nurture my passion for discovery, even beyond the lab.