Head of the group
Prof. Dr. Marcel Bucher
Marcel Bucher comes from Switzerland and his research interests focus on how plants respond to nutrient limitation in the context of plant-microbiota-soil interactions in the rhizosphere. He enjoys witnessing how students, young scientists and associates take responsibility, develop their project(s), skills, and personality, and further their career. His teaching portfolio includes basic courses in plant anatomy and physiology, and advanced courses in plant molecular biology and plant genetics. From 2012-2015 he was a member of the executive board and the steering board of the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences - CEPLAS (www.ceplas.eu). Within CEPLAS he is responsible for the outreach project „Research and Education: Knowledge transfer from research to schools“. Until 2020 he serves as deputy director of the Botanical Institute which he directed from 2016-2018.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-2481
Secretary
Scientists
Dr. Abdullah Altaher
Research Associate
Abdullah Altaher comes from Syria and his current research focuses on possible crosstalk(s) at molecular level between phosphate starvation response and the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in the model legume Lotus japonicus
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8223
Dr. Mohsen Hajheidari
Research Associate
Mohsen Hajheidari comes from Iran and works on the RECONSTRUCT project funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF). The project’s aim is to examine the contribution of soil biodiversity to maize growth and fitness through combined omics-based in silico modeling and reconstruction biology.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8222
Dr. Rainer E. Häusler
Senior Scientist
Rainer Häusler is from Germany and his current interest is focused on mutants and transgenic plants with a lesion in or altered activities of plastidial metabolite transporters.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-2340
Dr. Kathrin Schlücking
Research Associate
Kathrin Schlücking comes from Germany and her research interests cover the molecular mechanisms underlying the functionality of the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in the model legume Lotus japonicus.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8224
Dr. Mitzi Villajuana Bonequi
Coordinator
Dr. Mitzi Villajuana Bonequi comes from Mexico and co-coordinates the CEPLAS Research & Education project at the University of Cologne Center of Excellence CEPLAS. Her scientific expertise is on molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology and reproductive development.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-7326
Dr. Leonie Weber
Research associate
Leonie Weber comes from Germany. Her research mainly covers the regulation of the establishment of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in the model legume Lotus japonicus. She is also interested in the infulence of various factors on the microbiome of the Arabidopsis rhizosphere.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8222
Doctoral students
Samira Blau
Samira comes from Germany and is interested in the functional role of metabolic genes involved in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. Samira's project is conducted in a collaboration with PD Dr. Stephan Krüger at the University of Cologne.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8244
Svenja Monika Hermanns
Svenja Monika Hermanns is from Germany and is working in her doctoral research project on synthetic mutualism in beneficial Arabidopsis-fungus interactions.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8222
Chen-Yu Kuan
Chen-Yu Kuan is from Taiwan and her doctoral thesis project is on functional roles of GRAS transcription factors in Zygnematophyceae species and mycorrhizal land plants.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8222
Hang Lu
Hang Lu comes from China and is interested in the molecular architecture underlying the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis and its potential towards reconstruction of mutualistic symbioses.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8222
Isabelle Metzen
Isabelle Metzen comes from Germany and is interested in the nutritional and metabolic interactions between mycorrhizal roots and their microbiota as well as in their impact on soil quality.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8223
Lina Pesch
Lina Pesch comes from Germany and is working on the impact of the mycorrhizal phosphate uptake pathway on the assembly of the maize-microbiome.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8222
Katrin Sammet
Katrin Sammet comes from Germany and is interested in unravelling yet unknown functional roles of plastidial phosphate translocators in primary and secondary metabolism of Arabidopsis thaliana.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8223
Esperanza Abril Sosa
Esperanza Abril Sosa comes from Mexico and is working on host genetic factors underlying plant-fungi beneficial interactions.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8224
Technical Assistance
Ulrike Hebbeker
Ulrike Hebbeker is from Germany. She has profound expertise in extraction of secondary metabolites and nucleic acids, DNA cloning, and plant production.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-7326
Stefanie Junkermann
Stefanie Junkermann is from Germany and is working on aspects of plant-fungus interactions. She is a specialist in multi-elemental analytics performed with the ICP-MS that is located in the Biocenter Mass Spectrometry Platform.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-8224
Leia Mijatovic
Leia Mijatovic is from Germany and is working on aspects of plant-fungus interactions. She curates CORFU (COlogne collection of Root-associated FUngi) and the lab's seed storage.
Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-7326