Dejana Milić is a Research Assistant in the Group for Plant Molecular Biology at the IMGGE. Her research focuses on the adaptation of variegated plants to adverse environmental conditions.

She is currently conducting the experimental part of her doctoral dissertation, which investigates how the presence of green and white leaf sectors in variegated geranium (Pelargonium zonale) contributes to increased tolerance to unfavorable conditions compared with completely green plants. The study will identify key differences at the gene level, as well as in primary and secondary metabolites, between variegated and fully green geranium plants under optimal conditions. Also, changes at the morphological and physiological levels, as well as changes in gene expression, proteins, and metabolites in both model systems under stress conditions, will be monitored, with the aim of elucidating the adaptive significance of variegation.

Dejana earned a BSc in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade in 2020 and completed an MSc in Biochemistry in 2021 at the same faculty. In the same year, she enrolled in PhD studies in Biochemistry. During her studies, she received the Fund for Young Talents (“Dositeja”) scholarship and the City of Sremska Mitrovica scholarship. She is also a recipient of a DAAD Short-Term Research Grant, realized in 2024 at the Laboratory for Plant Environmental Signalling and Development at the University of Freiburg, Germany. She has been employed at IMGGE since 2022, initially as a research trainee and, since 2024, as a research assistant.