PETRA BULANKOVA

ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0368-5995 | 46 Rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris, France |E: petra.bulankova@bio.ens.psl.eu  


EDUCATION 

2011 Dr. rer. nat. (equivalent to PhD) in Molecular Biology, very good (1) 

Vienna Biocenter PhD program, University of Vienna, Austria 

PhD thesis: Regulation of meiotic progression in Arabidopsis


2006 Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics, passed with honours

Masaryk University in Brno, Faculty of Science, Czech Republic 

Thesis: Genomic instabilities induced by telomerase dysfunction in Arabidopsis


WORK EXPERIENCE


From 01/10/2023 CNRS Research scientist in the Phytogenomics team,

Institute de Biologie de l’École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France

2022 - 2023 Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Simone Köhler

Department of Cell Biology and Biophysics, EMBL, Heidelberg 

Project: Detection of homologous chromosomes in Phaeodactylum tricornutum

2020 - 2022 Unemployed, voluntary work in the laboratory of Dr. Lieven De Veylder 

Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

2015 - 2020 Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Lieven De Veylder 

Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Project: Mitotic recombination in diatoms

2014 Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid 

Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Vienna, Austria

Project: Epigenetic regulation of heterocarpy/heterospermy in Aethionema 

2014 Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Karel Riha, part-time

Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Vienna, Austria

Project: The role of STN1 gene in genome-wide endoreplication

2010 - 2012 Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Karel Riha

Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Vienna, Austria

Project: Identification of meiotic cyclins in Arabidopsis

2006 - 2010 PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Karel Riha, 

Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Vienna, Austria 


FELLOWSHIPS AND FUNDING

2025 Christian Boulin fellowship, visiting scientist, EMBL

2024 ANR JCJC grant REMIX, PI

2023 Transnational Access to PLANAQUA grant, team member, AQUACOSM, France

2022 Planetary Biology program internal grant, postdoc, EMBL

2021 GACR Standard grant, PI, The Czech Science Foundation, declined

2014 Schrödinger Fellowship, Postdoctoral position, Austrian Science Fund (FWF)


AWARDS

2011 Vienna Biocenter PhD Award for outstanding PhD thesis, Vienna, Austria 

2006 Dean's Award for excellence in studies and success in creative research work, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic


CAREER BREAKS

2020 50% parental leave; 8 months including 5 months of corona parental leave, Ghent, Belgium 

2017 Maternity and parental leave, 4.5 months, Ghent, Belgium

2013 Maternity and parental leave, 12 months, Vienna, Austria


SELECTED ORAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS OR INVITED SEMINARS


2025 Invited talk:  Molecular Life of Diatoms 8. Ghent, Belgium, 22-26 June 2025 

The unexpected features of mitotic division in diatoms


2025 Invited talk:  GMI 25th Anniversary, Vienna, Austria, May 23rd 2025

Unusual aspects of mitotic division in diatoms


2024 Invited talk:  Tree of Sex meeting, Prague, July 1-5th 2024, online participation:

Recombining chromosomes without sex and other unexpected features of diatoms


2023 Selected from abstracts: Conférence Jacques-Monod: Sex unfolded: sex, asex, sexes, Roscoff, France

Recombining chromosomes without sex: How can homologous chromosomes find each other in a diatom nucleus?


2022    Invited talk: Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, France

Recombining chromosomes without sex: Evidence for recombination of homologous chromosomes in diatom vegetative cells. 


2021 Selected from abstracts: EMBO Workshop: Plant genome stability and change

Evidence for recombination of homologous chromosomes in diatom vegetative cells


2021 Invited talk: Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Bergen, Norway

Mitotic interhomolog recombination contributes to the genomic diversity in diatoms.