Biophysical Society Bulletin | October 2025

Biophysicist in Profile

Vilmantas Pupkis Area of Research Plant electrical signaling and photosynthesis

Institution Vilnius University

At-a-Glance

In the countryside of Lithuania during his childhood holidays, Vilmantas Pupkis first explored the bio logical world that would shape his career. Today, he serves as an assistant professor and researcher at the Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University, where he investigates how plants use electrical signals to regulate photosynthesis.

Vilmantas Pupkis

Born and raised in Vilnius during Lithuania’s post-independence era, Vilmantas Pupkis witnessed his country’s transformation as it joined the European Union and NATO. “I am very fortunate that I did not have to experience the Soviet occupation, like my parents and grandparents had to,” he reflects. “I grew up witnessing the development of the free and independent Lithuania.” Pupkis was exposed to academic thinking from an early age. Both his parents are linguists specializing in the Lithuanian language, and earlier generations included teachers as well. “Although my leap to biophysics does not seem to be ‘pre-programmed,’ I was definitely exposed to academia and educational matters from a very young age,” he notes. In high school, passionate teachers in both biology and physics sparked his interest in these subjects. When it came time for university, the choice seemed natural. “I found that Vilnius Univer sity offered an undergraduate program in biophysics. I chose it without much contemplation because combining two subjects that I liked seemed like a smart choice. As it turns out, I was lucky that it was the right decision,” he remarks. Pupkis’s academic journey unfolded entirely at Vilnius University, where he earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees—all in biophysics, with his doctorate completed in 2024. The univer sity’s Life Sciences Center became his intellectual home. “Here, with its new laboratories and state-of-the-art equipment, I felt at home so much that I had no desire to move elsewhere,” he explains. The choice of research focus came through a process of elimina tion rather than grand design. When selecting a laboratory for his undergraduate thesis, Pupkis knew what he wanted to avoid. “I ruled out working with animal model systems due to the poten tial for causing them harm. I imagined myself too introverted for human research, and the idea of working with minuscule volumes and expensive substances in molecular biology seemed too stressful.” This led him to approach Vilma Kisnierienė and join the Group of Plant Cell Biophysics. “I decided to approach my eventual super

visor...and work on plants because it seemed unconventional and did not trigger any of my concerns. As it turns out, the field has been intriguing enough to keep me in it.” Under Kisnierienė’s guidance, Pupkis discovered that plants are far more dynamic than commonly perceived. “They face many of the same challenges that animals do every day—what to eat, how to eat, how to avoid being eaten, how to combat illness, and how to survive long enough to reproduce,” he observes. “Despite their limited ability to move, plants successfully solve each of these problems and do so in surprisingly creative ways.” His current research focuses on how plants use electrical signal ing—the same biophysical mechanisms that animals employ for complex cognitive processes—to transmit information about environmental stressors throughout their bodies. “While animals employ electrical signals for various purposes, including complex cognitive processes,” Pupkis explains, “plants harness the same biophysical mechanisms of transient transmembrane ion cur rents to transmit information about external stressors from the affected area to distal parts of the body.” His work has evolved from classical electrophysiology toward spectroscopic techniques that reveal details about photosynthesis itself. “We are trying to decipher how fluctuations in a plant’s local environment can induce or modulate electrical signals, which in turn affect pho tosynthetic activity. The complexity of these signal transduction pathways will likely keep us busy for years,” he speculates. Like many early career scientists, Pupkis has grappled with the unknowns of scientific research. “The first major cognitive hurdle I encountered at the very beginning was realizing that science operates on the frontier of knowledge,” he explains. “When one encounters a problem, sometimes an experienced colleague may offer some advice, but ultimately, no one can provide a definitive answer—because no one knows it yet.” This understanding brings both excitement and responsibility. “Becoming an expert in a certain niche can be frightening because of the responsibility to produce true top-tier science that other researchers can refer to.” He adds, “With these thoughts, the imposter syndrome is never far away.”

October 2025

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