Professor Ikram Blilou completed her Ph.D. on molecular mechanisms in plant defense during early responses to symbiotic plant and fungi relationships(mycorrhiza) at the University of Granada in Spain. After graduating, she moved to the Netherlands for postdoctoral research at Utrecht University, where she studied cell-cycle regulation and polar auxin transport. After completing her postdoctoral work, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at Utrecht University in 2003, where she established a line of research focusing on mechanisms regulating protein movement in plant roots. In 2006, she was awarded the prestigious Dutch VIDI and Aspasia grant and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. In 2012, she moved to Wageningen University, Netherlands, where she continued studying root development in Arabidopsis. In 2017, she relocated to KAUST, where she is currently leading several research projects, including stem cell regulation in model plants, focusing on transcription factor networks as well as understanding how plants cope in desert environments. Her team uses multidisciplinary approaches, including high-resolution microscopy, tissue culture and plant transformation, genome editing technologies, and transcriptional assays. Her team also implements deep learning and computer visualization to analyze and quantify dynamic processes in vivo, ranging from protein associations to pathogen invasion, disease detection, and growth quantification. 

Her team also studies mechanisms of plant adaptation to desert environments, focusing on the date palm as an important fruit tree that can thrive in the desert. 

Professor Blilou’s research interests focus on understanding the mechanisms of stem cell regulation in plant roots and how transcription factor networks dictate cell fate in different root tissue layers. Her work in understanding root developmental programs in model plants and desert plant species contributes to advancements in generating crops with enhanced resilience to desert conditions.