Ewa Łojkowska

Ewa Łojkowska has graduated from Nicolaus Copernicus University of Toruń, Poland and in 1984 she has obtained PhD degree in agricultural sciences. Her thesis was focused on the biochemical mechanisms of plant tresistance to plant pathogenic bacteria. In 1986-1988, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she showed, for the first time, that somatic hybridization can be useful for the introduction of the important agronomical traits from wild Solanum species to cultivated varieties. In 1991 she has obtained habilitation at Life Science University of Poznan, Poland. In years 1992-1993 was a visiting professor at Institute National des Sciences Appliques at Lyon, France, where she identified and characterized secondary pectate lyases produced by pectinolytic bacteria Dickeya dadantii. Since 1994 she is a Professor and Head of Department of Plant Protection and Biotechnology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology University of Gdansk & Medical University of Gdańsk (IFB UG & MUG). In her laboratory, several projects are conducted, which are focused on genomic and phenomic-oriented studies on soft rot Pectobacteriaceae aiming to reveal molecular mechanisms responsible for their virulence and re-evaluation of their taxonomy. She is also involved in the development of novel innovative methods for eradication bacterial plant pathogens.

Ewa Łojkowska is a co-author of over 150 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and over 200 communications on scientific conferences. She supervised 21 PhD theses, and led over 15 research projects financed from national and international agencies. She is a member of American Society of Phytopathology, European Association for Potato Research, Polish Society of Phytopathology, Polish Society of Biochemistry and Polish Society of Experimental Plant Biology. She was a Dean of IFB UG & MUG (2005-2012). She is a President of Committee of Biotechnology of Polish Academy of Sciences, President of Professor Wacław Szybalski Foundation, Head of the Jury for the Program L’OREAL-UNESCO for Women in Science and Head of the Women Club at the Fahrenheit Universities of Gdańsk.