Kondorosi Lab

Short Biography

Eva Kondorosi was born in Budapest, graduated (Biology) and received her PhD (Genetics) at the L. Eötvös University in Budapest. She was postdoc at the Max Planck Institut für Züchtungsforschung (Köln) and visiting scholar at the Sussex, Harvard and Cornell Universities. Eva Kondorosi was a founding member of the Institut des Science Végétales CNRS in Gif sur Yvette, France as one of the first research directors and group leaders and later the founding director of the BAYGEN Institute in Szeged, Hungary. Currently she is a research professor at the HUN-REN Biological Research Centre in Szeged, Hungary where she leads research on and symbiotic nitrogen fixation. She was the wife and an intellectual and research partner of Ádám Kondorosi (1946-2011), the renowned Széchenyi Prize-, and UNESCO Finley Prize-winning Hungarian geneticist who started the molecular genetic study of symbiotic nitrogen fixation and was its international leader.

Current position

2018-

Research Professor, Institute of Plant Biology HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary

Previous positions

2013-2018

Directeur de Recherche Emérite – CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (Institut de Biologie Intégrative de la Cellule), UMR 9198, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France

2002-2013

Scientific director (DR1), group leader, Institut des Sciences du Végétal, UPR 2355, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France

1989–2001

Scientific director (DR2), group leader, Institut des Sciences Végétales, CNRS UPR40, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France

2011-2018

Research Professor, Head of the Symbiosis and Functional Genomics Unit, Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary

2007-2011

Director, Institute for Plant Genomics, Human Biotechnology and Bioenergy (BAYGEN), Bay Zoltán Foundation for Applied Research, Hungary

1987-1989

Project leader, Max Planck Institut für Züchtungsforschung Köln, Germany

1973-1989

Young scientist and then project and group leader, Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary

Scientific Contribution

Her primary research focuses on the development of nitrogen-fixing root nodules in Rhizobium-legume symbiosis that has also made significant contributions to plant developmental biology. Together with her husband, Adam Kondorosi, Eva Kondorosi was among the first to identify Rhizobium nodulation genes, playing a pivotal role in the molecular communication between the symbiotic partners and the mechanisms of nodule organogenesis. She demonstrated the critical role of endoreduplication cycles in plant cell differentiation during both plant development and nodule formation. A recent breakthrough in her research was the discovery that plants control the irreversible differentiation of endosymbiotic bacteria into non-cultivable, polyploid nitrogen-fixing bacteroids. Her group identified 800 novel plant peptides within symbiotic cells, responsible for the terminal differentiation of bacteroids. Currently, her team aims to elucidate the functions of the NCR and nodGRP peptides in symbiosis. Additionally, the discovery of strong antimicrobial activities in several of these peptides has opened a new research avenue focused on developing innovative antibiotics that can effectively kill pathogenic microbes, including antibiotic-resistant strains.

Scientific Recognition

MEMBERSHIP IN SCIENTIFIC ACADEMIES

• Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (2010-)
• Member of the Academia Europaea (2010-)
• Corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2010-2016)
• Full Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2016-)
• Foreign Member of the French Agricultural Academy (2013-)
• Member of the German National Academy Leopoldina (2015-)
• Member of the European Academy of Microbiology (2017-)

PRIZES/AWARDS

• 2024 Hungarian Order of Merit Commander's Cross (Civilian Division, in sciences)
• 2023 Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN) Scientific Prize
• 2023 Dimitrie Cantemir medal (the highest scientific prize of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova)
• 2021 Prima Primissima Prize (in science)
• 2019 Pro Urbe Prize, Szeged
• 2018 Balzan Prize in Chemical Ecology, one of the most prestigious international scientific prizes
• 2018 Hungarian citizen of the year (Szeged, Délmagyar)
• 2015 Main Prize of Szeged Foundation for outstanding scientific contribution
• 2012 Széchenyi Prize awarded by the Hungarian State for outstanding scientific contribution, the highest recognition of scientists.
• 2012 Prize of the International Society of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI) for the highest impact in the field
• 2011 Prix de la Recherche (Paris) BIOLOGY: "Peptides antimicrobiens pour le contrôle de bactéries symbiotiques chez des plantes légumineuses"
• 2010 Szeged Prize (for excellent scientific results)
• 2011-2017 ERC Advanced Grant "Sym-Biotics"
• 2007 Hotchkiss Award (USA)
• 2006 EMBO Membership
• 1985 Academic Award, Hungarian Academy of Sciences for the discovery of nodulation genes

SERVING THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY

• Member of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (GCSA) of the European Commission (2020-2023)
• Chief Advisor on cancer screening recommendations by the GCSA that were fully integrated in the EU cancer screening guidelines in 2022
• Chair of the Life Sciences Class, Academia Europaea, Vice President ex officio (2021-)
• Board member of Academia Europaea (2015-)
• Vice-President, European Research Council (ERC) (2017–2018)
• Member of the Scientific Council, European Research Council (2013–2018)
• Chair of the ERC Working group on Widening European Participation (2014–2018)
• Member of the international committee of „Polish Excellence Initiative” of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (2019-)
• Member of the evaluation committee of the Slovak Academy of Sciences’ “Impulz program (2022-2023)
• Member of the United Nations Secretary General’s Scientific Advisory Board (2012-2016)
• Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) (2006-)
• Member of the EMBO Long Term Fellowship Committee (2010-2012)
• Member of the Board of Directors at the International Society of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI) (2008-2015)
• Editor of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (2010-)
• Editor of MicroLIFE (2022-)
• Editor of Biology Direct (2022-)
• Member of the Strategic Advisory Committee of University of Oslo (2018-2021)
• Member of the University of Ćologne’s Academic Advisory Board (2019-2022)
• Member of the jury of the BIAL Award in Biomedicine (2018-2020)
• Scientific Advisor of Hungarian National National Research, Development and Innovation Office (2016-)
• Member of the Board of Directors of the IS-Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (2011-2015)
• Member of the Steering Committee of the European Nitrogen Fixation Conferences (2016-2021)
• Member of the Scientific Expert Advisory Committee of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research (University of Queensland, Australian National University, University of Melbourne and University of Newcastle) (2007-2011)
• Member of the international jury for the L’OREAL-UNESCO « Women in Science » International Awards (1998-2002)

SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS

In my French and Hungarian laboratories, I trained at least 100-150 young scientists. Many of them are in leading positions at universities, research institutes (directors, group leaders) and scientific companies (CEOs). At my young age I was Katalin Kariko’s mentor who continued our early work and received the Nobel Prize in 2023.

Celebrating Katalin Kariko’s Women in Sciences L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Prize in Paris (23 of June, 2022).