Researchers
The Swiss Plant Science Web consists of approximately 130 members. They are professors and/or research group leaders at a Swiss university. With their teams they carry out excellent plant science research.
The list below is in alphabetical order by group leader last name. Alternatively, see a list in alphabetical order arranged by portfolio title.
Professors and Group Leaders (sorted by name)
| Dr. Simon Aeschbacher | Plant adaptation and speciation in the face of gene flow | Population Genomics |
| Prof. Dr. Jake Alexander | Experimental plant ecology | Plant Ecology |
| Dr. Aurélien Bailly | Volatile organic compounds-mediated plant-microbe communication | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions |
| Prof. Dr. Marie Barberon | Nutrition and development of plants | Developmental Physiology |
| PD Dr. Célia Baroux | Chromatin and transcriptome dynamics during sexual plant reproduction | Molecular Genetics of Plant Development |
| Prof. Dr. Jordi Bascompte | Networks of species interactions and biodiversity | Community Ecology |
| PD Dr. Reinhard Berndt | Systematic mycology | Systematic Mycology |
| Prof. Dr. Sylvain Bischof | Epigenetic control of gene expression and genome stability | Epigenetics and Chromatin Biology |
| Prof. Dr. em. Thomas Boller | Molecular aspects of symbiosis and pathogenesis in plants | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions |
| Prof. Dr. Kirsten Bomblies | Adaptive evolution in response to genome duplication and climate | Plant Evolutionary Genetics |
| Prof. Dr. Nina Buchmann | Biogeochemistry and biodiversity of agro- and forest ecosystems | Ecosystem Functioning and Global Change |
| Prof. Dr. Rodrigo Camara-Leret | Biocultural conservation | Ethnobotany |
| Prof. Dr. Elena Conti | An integrative phylogenetic approach to elucidate the evolution of plant diversity | Plant Evolution and Systematics |
| Prof. Dr. Daniel Croll | Evolutionary genomics of plant-pathogen interactions | Evolutionary Genetics |
| Prof. Dr. Alexander Damm | Remote sensing of plant-water relations | Remote Sensing |
| Prof. Dr. Consuelo De Moraes | Biocommunication & ecology | Biocommunication & Ecology |
| Dr. Jurriaan de Vos | Plant reproductive diversity across lineages and environments | Plant Evolution and Systematics |
| Prof. Dr. Leo Eberl | Interactions of bacteria with plants | Microbiology |
| Prof. Dr. Matthias Erb | Secondary metabolites in plant-herbivore interactions | Molecular and Chemical Plant-Herbivore Interactions |
| Prof. Dr. Christian Fankhauser | Molecular mechanisms of light-regulated growth and development in plants | Plant Photoreceptor-Mediated Signal Transduction |
| Prof. Dr. Edward Farmer | Plant molecular biology | Plant Molecular Biology |
| Prof. Dr. Markus Fischer | Plant ecology | Plant Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Teresa Fitzpatrick | Vitamin metabolism and its relations to environmental stress | Plant Biochemistry and Physiology |
| Dr. Pascale Flury | Plant-beneficial rhizobacteria | Plant-Microbe Interactions |
| Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Frossard | Improve nutrient-use efficiency in agro-ecosystems | Plant Nutrition |
| Dr. Claude Garcia | Human-forest interface in subtropical and tropical regions – Forest management and development group | Biodiversity Conservation – Natural Resources Management |
| PD Dr. Markus Geisler | Functional interactomics of auxin transport | Molecular Plant Physiology - Hormone Transport |
| Prof. Dr. Niko Geldner | Developmental cell biology of plants | Developmental Cell Biology of Plants |
| Prof. Dr. Jaboury Ghazoul | Plant-animal interactions and ecosystem function | Ecology of Plant Reproduction |
| Prof. Dr. Pierre Goloubinoff | Perception of stress and the mechanisms of molecular chaperones | Heat-Shock Biology and the Mechanisms of Chaperone Actions |
| Prof. Dr. Jason Grant | Plant systematics and taxonomy | Plant Systematics and Taxonomy |
| Dr. Stefan Grob | 3D-omics | Epigenetics |
| Prof. Dr. Charlotte Grossiord | Heat and drought impact on trees and forest ecosystems | Physiological Plant Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Ueli Grossniklaus | Genetic and epigenetic control of plant reproduction | Plant Developmental Genetics |
| Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Gruissem | Plant genetic networks – from databases to computational modeling | Functional Genomics |
| Dr. Felix Gugerli | Landscape Genomics of Forest Trees and Alpine Plants | Ecological Genetics |
| Prof. Dr. Antoine Guisan | Spatial modelling of plants species distribution | Spatial Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Marcus Hall | Plants and society | Environmental History |
| Prof. Dr. Christian Hardtke | The molecular basis of plant growth & development | Molecular Genetics & Natural Genetic Variation |
| Dr. Ora Hazak | Signaling peptides in plant adaptation to abiotic stresses | Molecular Genetics and Plant Cell Biology |
| PD Dr. Günter Hoch | Tree carbon relations | Tree Ecophysiology |
| Prof. Dr. Michael Hothorn | Structural plant biology | Structural Biology & Cell Biology & Genetics |
| Prof. Dr. Pauline Jullien | Methylome dynamics during Arabidopsis reproduction | Development and Epigenetic |
| Prof. Dr. Ansgar Kahmen | Responses of plants and ecosystems to global environmental change | Physiological Plant Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Beat Keller | The cereal genomes: hidden treasures for evolutionary genomics and agronomy | Plant Molecular Biology |
| PD Dr. Michael Kessler | Tropical plant biodiversity and biogeography | Tropical Plant Biodiversity and Biogeography |
| Prof. Dr. Felix Kessler | Discovering how chloroplasts are made | Chloroplasts and Photosynthesis |
| Prof. em. Dr. Christian Körner | Ecosystem function and biodiversity under global change | Plant Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Christoph Küffer | Global change ecology | Global Change Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Cris Kuhlemeier | Plant developmental biology | Plant Developmental Biology |
| Dr. Fiamma P. Longoni | Dynamics of the light harvesting complex | Photosynthetic acclimation |
| Prof. Dr. Luis Lopez-Molina | Molecular genetic control of seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana | Plant Developmental Genetics, Hormone Signaling |
| Prof. Dr. Kay Lucek | Holocentric chromosomes and their impact on speciation | Biodiversity Genomics |
| Dr. Ricardo Machado | Bioluminescence as a regulator of multitrophic interactions belowground | Molecular and Chemical Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Monika Maurhofer | Plant pathology | Plant Pathology |
| Prof. Dr. Bruce McDonald | Population genetics and evolutionary biology of plant pathogenic fungi | Plant Pathology |
| Prof. Dr. Heinz Müller-Schärer | Ecology and evolution in invasive plants | Plant Population Ecology |
| Dr. Yamama Naciri | Understanding plant speciation and diversification patterns | Biodiversity and Evolution |
| Dr. Christiane Nawrath | Structure – function analysis of cutin and the cuticle in Arabidopsis | Biochemistry |
| Prof. Dr. Pascal Niklaus | Consequences of environmental change on plant communities and plant-soil interactions | Global Change and Soil Ecology |
| PD Dr. Reto Nyffeler | Adaptation and diversification of succulent plants | Comparative Evolutionary Biology and Systematics |
| Dr. Astrid Oberson | Phosphorus and nitrogen (re-)cycling in agro-ecosystems | Plant Nutrition |
| Prof. Dr. John Pannell | Ecology and evolution of plant sexual systems | Ecology and Evolution of Plant Sexual Systems |
| Prof. Dr. Christian Parisod | Plant ecological genomics | Plant Genome Evolution and Diversification |
| Prof. Dr. Loïc Pellissier | Understanding the dynamic of biological landscapes | Spatial Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Michelle Price | Plant systematics and biodiversity | Systematics and Evolution of Plants and Fungi |
| Prof. Dr. Yves Poirier | Plant metabolic pathways and phosphate homeostasis | Plant Molecular Biology-Metabolic Pathways |
| Prof. Dr. Michael Raissig | Form, development, and function of grass stomata | Plant Developmental Genetics |
| Prof. Dr. Stefanie Ranf | Sensing and adaptation of bacteria in plants | Plant-Microbe Interactions |
| Prof. Dr. Sergio Rasmann | Evolutionary ecology of above-belowground plant-animal interaction | Mechanistic Community Ecology, Soil Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Didier Reinhardt | Regulation of growth, nutrition, and symbiosis in plants | Molecular Plant-Microbe interactions, Plant Nutrition |
| Prof. Dr. Rodrigo Reis | Adaptation to warm ambient temperature via posttranscriptional regulation | RNA Biology |
| Prof. Dr. Doris Rentsch | Transport of organic nitrogen in plants and parasitic protozoa | Molecular Plant Physiology |
| Prof. Dr. Philippe Reymond | Plant defenses against insects | Molecular Studies of Plant-Insect Interactions |
| Prof. Dr. Christoph Ringli | Regulatory factors controlling cell wall formation | Molecular Genetics of Plant Development |
| Prof. Dr. Christelle Robert | Infochemicals that shape interactions between organisms | Chemical Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Anne Roulin | Genetic basis of local adaptation | Molecular Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Sabine Rumpf | Alpine and arctic plant ecology | Plant Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Ian R. Sanders | Genetics and evolution of the mycorrhizal symbiosis | Molecular Genetics and Evolution |
| PD Dr. Diana Santelia | The role of carbon metabolism in drought stress tolerance | Plant Molecular Physiology and Biochemistry |
| Prof. Dr. Julia Santiago Cuellar | Plant signaling mechanisms | Cell Wall Signaling and Remodeling |
| Prof. Dr. Florian P. Schiestl | Chemical and evolutionary ecology of plant - insect interactions | Systematic Botany |
| Prof. Dr. Joelle Schläpfer | Root-microbe interactions | Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions |
| Prof. Dr. Klaus Schlaeppi | Root microbiome | Plant-Microbe Interactions |
| Prof. Dr. em. Bernhard Schmid | Organization of plant populations and communities | Experimental Plant Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Kentaro Shimizu | How genomic changes promote adaptation and speciation in Arabidopsis relatives and in tropical trees | Evolutionary Functional Genomics / Systems Biology |
| Dr. Rie Shimizu-Inatsugi | Polyploidization and stress response in plants | Evolutionary Genomics |
| Prof. Dr. Sara Simonini | Canonical and non-canonical epigenetic regulation of embryogenesis | Plant Molecular and Developmental Biology |
| Prof. Dr. Johan Six | Elucidating and promoting sustainable agriculture across the world | Sustainable Agroecosystems |
| Prof. Dr. Sebastian Soyk | Genetic control of plant architecture | Plant Developmental Genetics |
| Dr. Thomas Städler | Evolutionary genetics and reproductive isolation in wild tomatoes | Plant Evolutionary Genetics |
| Prof. Dr. Bruno Studer | Forage crop genetics | Forage Crop Genetics |
| Dr. Peter Szövényi | Evolutionary genomics and ecology of macro- and microevolutionary transitions | Evolutionary Genomics |
| Prof. Dr. Zerihun Tadele | Crop breeding and genomics | Plant Genetics and Development |
| Dr. Federica Tamburini | Oxygen isotope in phosphate, a new approach to study the soil/plant system | Plant Nutrition |
| Prof. Dr. Willy Tinner | Ecosystem and vegetation responses to climatic change, disturbance and land use | Paleoecology and Vegetation Dynamics |
| Dr. Elisabeth Truernit | Phloem development and function | Plant Development |
| Prof. Dr. Ted Turlings | Chemical signals involved in plant-insect interactions | Chemical Ecology |
| Prof. Dr. Roman Ulm | UV-B perception and signalling in plants | Plant Molecular Biology |
| Prof. Dr. Marcel Van der Heijden | Symbiosis and soil biodiversity as a driver of plant growth and ecosystem functioning | Plant Soil Interactions |
| Prof. Dr. Joop Vermeer | Understanding spatial accommodating responses during plant development | Plant Cell Biology |
| Prof. Dr. Olivier Voinnet | RNA Biology | RNA Biology |
| Prof. Dr. Julia Vorholt | Phyllosphere microbiome | Microbiology |
| Prof. Dr. Achim Walter | Plant growth and phenotyping | Crop Science |
| PD Dr. Caroline Weckerle | Ethnobotany | Ethnobotany |
| Prof. Dr. Laure Weisskopf | Volatile-mediated impact of bacteria on plants | Plant-microbe Interactions, Phytopathology, Microbiology |
| Prof. Dr. Thomas Wicker | Genomics and bioinformatics in plants and fungi | Genomics |
| Prof. Dr. Alex Widmer | Understanding the genetic basis of ecological and evolutionary processes | Plant Ecological Genetics |
| Prof. Dr. Yvonne Willi | Limits to the adaptive evolution process | Evolutionary Biology |
| Prof. Dr. Samuel C. Zeeman | Plant primary metabolism - From basic research to crop productivity | Plant Biochemistry |
| Prof. Dr. Clara Zemp | Protecting biodiversity in a changing world | Conservation biology |
| Prof. Dr. Cyril Zipfel | Receptor kinase-mediated plant sensing | Plant Signaling |
| Prof. Dr. Tobias Züst | Costs and benefits of phytochemical diversity in coevolved systems | Chemical Ecology of Plant-herbivore Interactions |