Eva Benková elected to EMBO

With over 70 publications and thousands of citations, it is no wonder that IST Austria Professor Eva Benková has been awarded a variety of distinctions, including a prestigious ERC grant. Now, her excellent work and impressive career in cell developmental biology have been recognized by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), which has elected her Member of this eminent organization.

As a newly elected Member, Eva Benková joins a community of nearly 1800 of the world’s top researchers in the life sciences. The EMBO promotes excellence in research, and works to support scientists at all stages of their careers, encourage information exchange, and develop a robust and active European research environment. Each year, the association gathers to elect new Members and Associate Members to a life-long membership, ensuring that the EMBO is represented by the leading researchers in the life sciences. This year, a total of 65 new Members and Associate Members were selected. Currently, there are 36 EMBO Members conducting research in Austria, five of whom are at IST Austria: Nick Barton, Michael Sixt, Jiri Friml, Carl-Philipp Heisenberg, and, as of this year, Eva Benková.

In her research, Eva Benková works to understand the molecular basis of hormonal interactions in plants. Plant hormones are important signaling molecules that control numerous physiological processes, such as cell division, and the roles of different hormones often overlap, resulting in complex networks of interactions. Eva Benková and her group study how these hormonal networks are established, maintained, and modulated to control plant development, and in particular, the molecular mechanisms and principles underlying the interactions between hormones. Recently, they have been very successful in locating several key points at which hormonal signaling pathways converge to control plant growth and development. 

Eva Benková completed her PhD at the Institute of Biophysics at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Brno. From 1998-2007, she held postdoc positions at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding and the Center for Plant Molecular Biology, in Cologne and Tübingen, Germany, respectively.  Afterwards, she led research groups at the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology in Ghent, Belgium, and the Central European Institute of Technology in Brno, Czech Republic. In 2013, Eva Benková joined IST Austria as an Assistant Professor, and has been a full Professor since 2016.