Dr. Jelena Savić

Dr. Jelena Savić is a Principal Research Fellow at the Department of Plant Physiology. She received a BSc and a PhD degrees in 2004 and 2012, respectively, from the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, both in plant physiology. During 2005-2006 she was working as a Junior Teaching Assistant at the Chair of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Biology. Since 2006 she has been full-time employed at IBISS.

Dr. Savić spent one year (2008-2009) as a visiting scientist in the Plant Pathology Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland, USA, working on the characterization of sugar beet genes responsible for tolerance to pest insects.

She has been a mentor of 3 PhD and 1 MSc theses of the students from the Faculty of Biology. Dr. Savić is a member of the Steering Committee of the Serbian Plant Physiology Society, and a member of the Serbian Biological Society, the Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology (FESPB), and the International Association For Plant Biotechnology (IAPB).

Due to graduating in 2004, Dr. Savić worked as a plant biologist with credentials in plant physiology, biotechnology and molecular biology, and is especially interested in ecophysiology, plant-to-plant communication, plant defense mechanisms and interactions between plant host and pests. Dr. Savić is a leader of a research group focused on the investigation of the potential of plant essential oils for priming defense in host plants and the role of epigenetic control of induced defense against pests.

Besides the fundamental results which will unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying these mutual interactions, the major research outcomes should promote the agricultural cultivation practices that will increase plant diversity and provide sustainable management of insect pests. The established research model system (potato-essentail oils-pests) could serve as a suitable for testing different essential oils with potential to be transfered into commercial bio-products.