EPSO Young Plant Scientist Award 2025

Himanshu Chhillar winner of the Award for fundamental research.

The winner of the award for fundamental research is Himanshu Chhillar of the Institute of Biology, Leiden University, The Netherlands, for his project “Revolutionizing Plant Defence: Unveiling Key Signalling Mechanisms for Improved Resistance.” Plant resistance to pathogen attack involves a multilayered response both at the environmental interface and within the cell. Immune responses at the plant surface are initiated by receptors leading to pattern triggered immunity (PTI), whereas on the intracellular level, nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat-containing receptors (NLRs) lead to effector-triggered immunity (ETI). The two levels, PTI and ETI, eventually converge into shared downstream responses, complicating their individual analysis and amelioration. Himanshu Chhillar and his lab hav e addressed this conflation by developing and applying a system, SETI, whereby ETI can be induced and controlled by estradiol treatment. Using advanced multi-omics approaches and focusing on the role of calcium signalling, in particular calmodulin-binding protein 60 family (CBP60s), in immunity, Himanshu and his team resolved disease resistance from the hypersensitive response (HR), opening a new outlook on immunity in plants.
The work will have important implications for plant breeding and for food security in general.