Cell & Developmental Biology
Open Access

Beeckman Tom received his master’s degree in Botany from the University of Ghent, Belgium, in 1985 and completed the Belgian interuniversity postgraduate education in Marine Biology in 1989. He obtained a PhD with a study on embryogenesis and lateral root formation in the model species Arabidopsis making use of a combination of microscopical techniques and genetic tools. After performing postdoctoral research at the Laboratory of Genetics (Ghent University), became Group Leader of the Root Development Group at the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) in 2001. He became a Professor at Ghent University in 2007, teaching plant developmental biology.