Since January, Ykä Helariutta is the new Editor-in-chief of Physiologia Plantarum. He is currently sharing the position with Vaughan Hurry for a smooth transition.
A word from Ykä Helariutta – PPL new Editor-in-Chief
I initially trained as a plant molecular biologist and obtained my PhD at the University of Helsinki, Finland, under the guidance of Prof. Teemu Teeri, studying flower development and secondary metabolism in Gerbera hybrids. During my post-doctoral period at New York University with Philip Benfey, I focused on genetic approaches to study root development. In 1999 I started my own lab at the University of Helsinki researching vascular development with a focus on Arabidopsis. 2014 I moved my research to the Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, while establishing a team in tree genetics (birch) in Helsinki. At the beginning of this year, I obtained together with Jaakko Kangasjärvi, Ari Pekka Mähönen and a few other colleagues a Centre of Excellence of Tree Biology by the Academy of Finland that will run until the end of 2029. Therefore, later this year, I am returning to Helsinki full-time.
I have always been a fan of Physiologia Plantarum. I remember encountering the Journal for the first time in the old library of the Department of Botany, University of Helsinki, mid-1980s. Then, in 2009, I became the Subject Editor of the Development, growth and differentiation section of the Journal. As I have a background in diverse model species, I am excited about the impressive array of plant species on which we publish. I hope that I have been able to contribute to the elevating profile of the Journal.
I have been an Editor for several other journals as well, such as Plant and Cell Physiology, Plant Molecular Biology and Journal of Plant Physiology. I just stepped down as a member of the board of reviewing editors for Science after serving almost a decade. I will continue as a Plant Editor for Development, at least for a while.
I see the Editor-in-Chief position as a logical continuum of my, after all, quite extensive editorial activity. I am very much looking forward to taking the leading role this year, overlapping with Vaughan (which is a privilege), to develop the journal during these dynamic times of plant science.
Physiologia Plantarum is a well-established journal founded already in 1948! Since then, it has been able to stay current with the various phases of experimental plant science. It represents impressive diversity in topics, model species as well as contributors. Today it is clearly a journal of the global plant science community.
Together with our background organization Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society, we initiated a webinar series last year that takes place twice per year (spring and autumn). In this series, we select speakers based on the submitted manuscripts. We also try to identify some early career speakers that could be future contributors to PPL. We hope to enhance the interaction with our contributors and provide them with a chance to discuss their results with the community. The first two webinars have been quite successful.
The webinar is also an attempt to enhance the global visibility of the journal. We also have other initiatives along these lines. One is to broaden the diversity of the editorial board. I am happy to announce that we have just been able to recruit Professor Yuling Jiao (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing) and Professor Ko Noguchi (Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science) as our new Subject Editors. Very much looking forward to working with you!
Finally, I feel it is now my turn to take the torch and bring it through yet another new era of plant science. For example, today, we can see many submissions with an ‘omics’ approach. It also appears that the research takes new forms with new model species. It is important to maintain PPL as a quality journal reporting the most innovative way of these new trends.