Tom BeeckmanTom Beeckman received his master's degree in Botany from the University of Ghent, Belgium, in 1985 and completed his Belgian interuniversity postgraduate education in Marine Biology in 1989. After performing postdoctoral research at the Laboratory ofGenetics (Ghent University), he became Group Leader of the Root Development Group at the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) in 2001. He then became a Professor at Ghent University in 2007, teaching plant developmental biology. His current work aims to understand how the branching pattern of roots becomes established by disentangling the molecular basis of lateral root spacing mechanisms that guarantee an optimal uptake. Read More Read Less