Dorina Podar was born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where she studied Biology and Chemistry at Babeș-Bolyai University. She earned her PhD in Biology with a focus on heavy metal stress and phytoremediation, concomitant with a Marie Curie-funded doctoral training at the University of Sussex. She then held postdoctoral positions at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the University of York, investigating plant metal transporters involved in zinc and cadmium homeostasis. Currently, she is Associate Professor at Babeș-Bolyai University and Director of the Research Centre for Systems Biology, Biodiversity and Bioresources.

Her group research focuses on metal transport and detoxification in plants, root–microbe interactions, and rhizosphere-driven processes for environmental remediation and biofortification. She investigates the molecular mechanisms of nutrient and trace metal uptake, the roles of metal transporter families, and the modulation of rhizosphere microbiota under metal stress. Her work combines molecular biology, plant physiology, and environmental geochemistry to understand plant adaptation to contaminated soils. She is a member of several international research consortia and scientific societies in plant and molecular biology.