Fede Berckx

Since August 2022, I am working as a postdoctoral researcher in the HeRo project (principal investigator: Martin Weih), and the IMPULSE project (principal investigator: Alexander Menegat). Here, I am looking into the microbiome of different Swedish crops such as winter wheat, soybean, and lupin. The main focus of my research is how crop management, such as rotational cropping and weed management, affects the structure of fungal and bacterial communities. Using this we can design cropping systems for improved microbiome interactions in sustainable agriculture.

Together with several other young researchers, I lead the project DIVERSOW. Here we are taking a holistic approach to close the yield gap in organic farming. I am involved in investigating the fungal communities associated with several modern, landrace, and heritage cultivars of spring wheat.

I am a course leader for the course "Sustainable food production - challenges and cropping system solutions".

In addition, I have supervised several students working on their bacherlor- or master thesis. If you are interested in doing an internship or a thesis project on plant-microbe interactions, feel free to contact me.

I am co-supervisor of Electra Lennartsson, a PhD student working in the Novo Nordisk project "N2CROP".

I obtained my PhD from Stockholm University in February 2022, in the lab of Katharina Pawlowski. Here I looked at root nodule symbiosis between nitrogen-fixing bacteria Frankia and their host plants (Coriariaceae and Datiscaceae) from an evolutionary perspective. 

I obtained both my master's (2017) and my bachelor's (2015) degrees from Ghent University (BE).

2025 Berckx, F., Nguyen, T.V., [...], Pawlowski, K. Host-dependent specialized metabolism of nitrogen export in actinorhizal nodules induced by diazotrophic Actinomycetota Frankia cluster-2. Journal of Experimental Botany, erae446.

2024 Pawlowski, K., [...], Berckx, F., [..] Sellstedt, A. Frankia [NiFe] uptake hydrogenases and genome reduction: different lineages of loss. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 100(12), fiae147.

2024 Cope, J. E., Berckx, F., [...], Weih, M.  Clear effects on root system architecture of winter wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) from cultivation environment and practices. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 11099.

2024 Cope, J. E., Berckx, F., [...] Weih, M.  Precrop-treated soil influences wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) root system architecture and its response to drought. Frontiers in Plant Science, 15, 1389593.

2024 Berckx, F., Wibberg, D., [...],  Pawlowski, K. Genome analysis and biogeographic distribution of the earliest divergent Frankia clade in the southern hemisphere. FEMS Microbiology Ecology,  100:fiae042.

2024 Berckx, F. In the Spotlight: Getting to the roots of fungal interactions. Physiologia Plantarum, 176:e14295.

2024 Yang H, Berckx F, Fransson P, Weih M. Harnessing plant-microbe interactions to promote nitrogen use efficiency in cereal crops. Plant and Soil.

A complete publication list can be found on my Google scholar account.