Lucas Claus

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I started my scientific career at ESALQ/USP, where I studied Agronomic Engineering and did undergraduate research in protein biochemistry, working on plant hormonal peptides. In 2015, I moved to France with an Eiffel Excellence Scholarship for a double degree at AgroParisTech and a master’s degree in Plant Sciences at Université Paris-Saclay. I did my master’s research at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology in Belgium, and stayed there for my PhD in Biochemistry and Biotechnology, focusing on receptor-kinase endocytosis and signaling in plant immunity and development. I then did a short postdoc on multiplex genome editing in maize, using CRISPR-Cas to improve complex traits such as drought tolerance.

I returned to Brazil in 2023 with the goal of applying this expertise to agriculture in the country. I joined the biotech startup InEdita Bio as a senior researcher, and was later promoted to junior coordinator, leading genome-editing projects in crops. In 2025, I was awarded a CNPq fellowship through the Conhecimento Brasil – Talent Attraction and Retention program. In 2026, I moved my project to ESALQ/USP as a collaborating researcher in Professor Claudia Vitorello’s lab. There, I use gene editing in Setaria viridis to study how brassinosteroids control plant architecture in monocots.

Lucas Claus | Genomics Group - Plant-Pathogen Systems Genetics Lab

Lucas Claus