Agrisera News

Interview with Assistant Prof. Ivan Radin

Assistant Prof. Ivan Radin

Dr. Ivan Radin is an Assistant Professor in the Plant and Microbial Biology Department at the University of Minnesota. Their research focuses on understanding how plants and green algae perceive mechanical forces through organellar mechanosensing, with an emphasis on mechanosensitive ion channels in vacuoles and chloroplasts.


- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am an Assistant Professor at the Plant and Microbial Biology Department at the University of Minnesota. My lab is interested in how organellar mechanosensing (the ability to sense mechanical force) has evolved within the green lineage (land plants and green algae). Our current goal is to understand the function of vacuolar and chloroplastic mechanosensitive ion channels from Arabidopsis, moss Physcomitrium, and green alga Chlamydomonas.


- What motivated you to get into plant science?

Initially, it was a bit of luck. As an undergraduate student, I was looking for research opportunities when I got an opportunity to work in a plant lab. I immediately fell in love with plant biology, and since then, I have been pursuing plant research. To this day, I am fascinated by the complexity of plant cells and their ability to respond to their environment. Plants are much more complex and sophisticated than most people realize.


- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

I used a lot of Agrisera cellular compartment marker antibodies for Western blots during my grad school. Now in my lab, the Agrisera antibodies are the first new antibodies we bought. More specifically, we are using antibodies against fluorescent protein tags.


- Any further comments?

I very much appreciate the Agrisera practice of always testing their new products with the help of the plant research community before releasing them for sale. This significantly increases my confidence in their antibodies.


Links

• Assistant Prof. Ivan Radin
• The Radin Lab
• Agrisera antibodies to Tags
• Agrisera antibodies to Compartment markers

Read more 2025-11-27

Agrisera last shipment date in 2025

Read more 2025-11-24

Agrisera supports Canadian Society of Plant Biologists Western Regional Meeting

Read more 2025-11-21

Agrisera workshop for researchers in China, with Agrisera distributor XMJ

Read more 2025-11-21

Western blot workshop with Agrisera exclusive distributor in UK, 2BScientific

Read more 2025-11-14

Agrisera at KBC Days 2025

Between the 11th and 12th of November, Agrisera attended the KBC Days, an annual interdisciplinary conference. KBC is the Chemical Biological Center of Umeå University. The main theme of the 2025 KBC Days conference was "Bridging Scales: from Quantum to Cosmos",  PhD students held 2-minute elevator pitches, presenting their work,  and the best talk was awarded with Agrisera prize to MD and phd student Hanna Jerndal for the talk with the title: ”Longitudinal Assessment of Tubular and Glomerular Kidney Function After COVID-19 – a prospective cohort study”, from Department of Clinical Microbiology, Umeå University.  Thank you to all who came by Agrisera's table to talk about antibodies and Western blot, or to collect Agrisera Educational Posters. Agrisera will be holding the technical workshop "Interpreting Western blots like a pro: avoiding common pitfalls" – at KBC, on the 26th of November, between 13.00 and 14.00, in person as well as online. If you are planning to attend this workshop, you are welcome to send in your Western blot questions in advance!

Read more 2025-11-12

Interview with Prof. Łucja Kowalewska

Prof. Łucja Kowalewska

Dr. Łucja Kowalewska is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, where she serves as the Head of the Department of Plant Anatomy. She specializes in plastid membrane dynamics and structural biology, using advanced microscopy, computational analysis, and biophysical approaches to study organelle nanomorphology. Her research focuses on how biological membranes self-organize into complex three-dimensional structures, revealing how their architecture directly contributes to biological function.

- Please tell us about yourself and your research/institution.

I am an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, where I serve as Head of the Department of Plant Anatomy and Cytology and Chairwoman of the Council of the Institute of Experimental Plant Biology and Biotechnology. As a plant cell biologist, I specialize in plastid membrane dynamics and structural biology, applying advanced microscopy, computational methods, and biophysical principles to understand organelle nanomorphology.

Our research focuses on nanomorphology as a critical level of biological membrane organization, exploring how membrane structure itself serves as a direct source of biological function. We investigate the fascinating world of membrane self-organization, particularly the formation of complex periodic arrangements, with an emphasis on cubic membranes that resemble triply periodic minimal surfaces, known in differential geometry and topology. Through an interdisciplinary approach that bridges biology, biophysics, and topology, we aim to understand how biological membranes self-organize into complex, three-dimensional periodic structures and the molecular mechanisms that govern these transformations.


- What motivated you to get into plant science?

My path into plant science began early during my bachelor's studies in biotechnology, when I instantly decided to focus on plants. I was deeply interested in cell biology, but I chose to explore this field using plant models rather than working with animal material, as I didn't want my daily work to involve animal suffering—although I certainly understand, appreciate, and support the necessary use of animal studies for both basic science and medicine.

My simultaneous interest in visual arts drew me to organelle ultrastructure, where I quickly realized that plastid membrane networks represent the most complicated and beautiful membrane arrangements known in nature. Yet, we understand little about the mechanisms behind their formation. Today, I don't necessarily think of myself as just a plant biologist, but rather as a cell biologist who is fortunate to work with the best existing model—plastid membranes—to understand the relationship between membrane nanomorphology and biological function, as well as the molecular basis of these complicated self-organizing shapes.


- How have you used (Agrisera) antibodies in your research?

Agrisera antibodies are crucial to my group's work and have helped us verify many hypotheses, as they are always reliable materials supported by the excellent guidance of Dr. Joanna Porankiewicz-Asplund. Agrisera is also remarkably open to discussing new antibodies that can truly help verify novel ideas and significantly advance our projects.

I believe the most important outcome from using Agrisera antibodies was proving the presence of CURT1 proteins in prolamellar bodies of etiolated seedlings—something that had been overlooked in previous proteomic studies of this structure. This discovery greatly enhanced our understanding of diamond-type organization formation, proving the role of curvature-inducing proteins in forming this special geometry. This finding was pivotal in demonstrating how specific proteins contribute to the complex three-dimensional membrane architectures we study.


- Any further comments?

My relationship with Agrisera spans over a decade and holds special significance in my scientific journey. My first poster prize, received as a PhD student during a Photosynthesis Research conference, was an Agrisera prize that included a Z-scheme poster signed by Govindjee with congratulations. I still have this poster in my office, and it serves as a constant reminder of that intensive but deeply satisfying time during my PhD journey. It also highlights how Agrisera has supported my research for more than 10 years now.

The collaborative relationship with Agrisera exemplifies the kind of partnership that advances science—one where a company not only provides products but also actively engages with researchers to develop tools that can push the boundaries of our understanding. This support has been invaluable in our interdisciplinary approach to unraveling the mysteries of biological membrane organization.


Links

• Prof. Łucja Kowalewska
• Agrisera antibodies to proteins involved in biogenesis/architecture

Read more 2025-11-11

How to interpret Western blot results? Workshop with BiotechnoLabs, Agrisera distributor in India

Read more 2025-11-07