Dr. Muna Alariqi
About me
A dedicated Biologist with over than 10 years of experience in the scientific research and academia. Possesses a proven track record of publishing in peer-reviewed journals and is highly skilled in project management, from experimental design to data presentation. Deeply committed to scientific rigor and the peer-review process, actively contributing as a Guest Editor for Frontiers in Plant Science and as a reviewer for leading journals including Genome Biology and Plant Biotechnology Journal.
Dr. Muna Alariqi is a plant molecular biologist with extensive expertise in genome editing, plant signaling, and synthetic biology. She received her PhD and completed her postdoctoral training at Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University. Her research has focused on uncovering novel regulatory functions of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes beyond their classical metabolic roles. In particular, her work revealed a previously unrecognized role of anthocyanins in calcium-mediated plant signaling, with downstream effects on trichome development and insect resistance.
Dr. Alariqi has developed and applied advanced genome editing tools to manipulate complex polyploid genomes, with demonstrated success in economically important crops such as cotton, as well as model systems including tobacco. Her research integrates molecular genetics, functional genomics, and synthetic biology approaches to enhance plant resilience to biotic stresses and to engineer traits relevant to sustainable agriculture and biotechnology. She has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals and has received competitive funding, including support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
In addition to her research accomplishments, Dr. Alariqi has six years of undergraduate teaching experience at the College of Agriculture, Sana’a University, Yemen (September 2008–June 2015). She taught core courses in plant physiology, crop production, and principles of genetics, and is strongly committed to high-quality teaching, mentorship.