image: Abdulkabir Omeiza Abdulmalik, Dennis Baffour-Awuah, Indrani K. Baruah, Ching Chan, and Rajarshi Sanyal are the 2025 Plantae Editors.
Credit: American Society of Plant Biologists
Returning in 2025, ASPB has appointed its new group of Plantae Editors to further support Plantae’s growth and goal to serve as a community resource for plant biologists, by plant biologists. The Plantae Editors all served as Plantae Fellows in previous program years and are returning ready to support the 2025 Plantae Fellows.
About Plantae Editors
Plantae Editors are appointed for a two-year term and work alongside the Plantae Fellows to engage and grow the Plantae community. Plantae Editors have shown exceptional creativity and skill in content development and organization. In their roles, Plantae Editors help nurture these skills in others while also shaping the content of Plantae. They serve as a resource for Plantae Fellows as they plan and produce their content for Plantae, facilitate connections across the global plant science community, lead and organize a dedicated team of Plantae Fellows, and assist with the curation of Plant Science Research Weekly (PSRW) articles. Plantae Editors also receive an inside view of the technology roadmap for the Plantae platform and provide feedback and direction as needed.
Meet the 2025 ASPB Plantae Editors
Abdulkabir Omeiza Abdulmalik
Abdulkabir is a PhD student at Heinrich Heine University, Dusseldorf, Germany. He is a member of the CEPLAS Graduate School and his project focuses on applying an experimental evolution approach to engineer plant growth-promoting microbiomes. He enjoys writing and shares a passion for science communication. X: @Omeiza_PlantDoc
Dennis Baffour-Awuah
Dennis is a passionate science communicator dedicated to advancing public understanding of agricultural innovations. With an MPhil in Nuclear Agriculture and extensive experience in science communication, Dennis combines his love for writing, DJing and art to make science engaging and accessible to diverse audiences. X: @dennisgameplay
Indrani K. Baruah
Indrani K.B, an ASPB 2023 Plantae fellow is an ORISE post-doctoral fellow (2019-2024) who finished her tenure this February 2024 at the USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Centre (BARC) in Maryland, USA and currently on a self-imposed sabbatical visiting family in India. Her research interests include focusing on functional and comparative genomics studies related to phytopathology, fungal plant biology, pathogen genomics, host-microbe interaction and plant epigenomics. Apart from being a first-generation researcher mother from her family, she likes to involve herself in easy scientific communication and voluntary activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). She wishes to be an inspiration for young women to choose STEM fields. X: @Indranik333
Ching Chan
Ching’s group is broadly interested in plant-microbe interactions under different environmental conditions and the application of this knowledge to crop improvement. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, they explored the fundamental mechanisms of membrane receptors and ion channels in modulating plant immune response against bacterial and fungal pathogens. To extend the application potential of these genes, their homologs in crop plants are also under investigation! X: @ntnuchanlab
Rajarshi Sanyal
Rajarshi is a PhD Scholar at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in India, exploring how plants adapt their development in response to environmental cues and working to optimize photosynthetic efficiency in crops. Beyond research, he’s passionate about science communication and enjoys exploring nature through photography and travel. X: @rajarshi_sanyal