ViroiDoc welcomes 10 new MSCA Fellows

10 new MSCA Doctoral Fellows will join the international effort to unravel how viroids - the smallest known infectious agents - cause diseases in plants and threaten agricultural production worldwide.

Funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Networks programme with a total budget of €2.5 million, ViroiDoc brings together 22 partners, including leading universities, research institutes, and industry stakeholders from 11 countries across Europe and the Americas, including Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, the United States, and Argentina. The network offers an exceptional interdisciplinary environment where young scientists will explore the molecular biology, epidemiology, and control of viroid infections in major crops.

Understanding the invisible pathogens

Viroids are circular, single-stranded RNA molecules up to 80 times smaller than viruses. Typically, they do not code for any proteins but utilize host proteins for replication, processing and transport. They can cause severe diseases in economically important plants such as grapevine, citrus, potato, tomato, hop, palm, and hemp. Each year, viroid infections result in crop losses worth tens of millions of euros. Climate change and the global movement of plant material-especially through clonal propagation-are accelerating their spread to new regions and hosts, posing a serious risk to global food security.

“Viroids are the ultimate minimalist pathogens and also for of life. By studying them, we can not only protect crops but also gain unique insights into RNA biology and plant immunity,” said Dr. Sabina Berne, ViroiDoc project coordinator from the University of Ljubljana.

Training the next generation of RNA experts

The 10 selected doctoral fellows will work on projects covering key aspects of viroid biology, from host-pathogen interactions and early-detection technologies to epidemiology and innovative control strategies. Through a combination of research training, academic courses, and industrial secondments, they will gain the expertise needed to address emerging agricultural challenges in line with the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy.

These early-career researchers are the heart of ViroiDoc. They will not only advance our scientific understanding but also help shape the future of sustainable agriculture.

List of MSCA fellows

1. Joao Colaço, University of Ljubljana (UL), Slovenia, under supervision of Prof. Jernej Jakše
2. Octave Lacroix, Slovenian Institute of Hop Research and Brewing (IHPS), Slovenia, under supervision of Dr. Sebastjan Radišek
3. Weigeng Liu, National institute of chemistry (NIC), Slovenia, under supervision of Dr. Samo Hočevar
4. Judith Estefanía López Ponce, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), France, under supervision of Prof. Manfred Heinlein and Prof. Todd Blevins
5. Linh Le Thi Thuy, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain, under supervision of Prof. José-Antonio Daròs
6. Teodora Stojkovska, Valencia Polytechnic University (UPV), Spain, under supervision of Prof. Purificación Lisón
7. Fabio D'Alessandro, National Research Council (CNR), Italy, under supervision of Dr. Francesco di Serio
8. Vjeko Hrabar, National Research Council (CNR), Italy, under supervision of Dr. Beatriz Navarro Ramirez
9. Lena Michailidou, University of Crete (UoC), Grece, under supervision of Prof. Kriton Kalantidis
10. Lara Palatinus, University of Regensburg (UREG), Germany, under supervision of Prof. Aline Koch

Find out more about the fellows´ individual research projects.

About ViroiDoc

ViroiDoc – Advanced Research on Viroid Pathogenesis and Control for Sustainable Agriculture is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network dedicated to understanding how viroids cause disease and to developing novel methods for their early detection and control. By combining expertise from molecular biology, bioinformatics, plant pathology, and biotechnology, ViroiDoc aims to protect crops, secure food production, and train a new generation of plant health innovators.