Speaker: Joost T van Dongen

Professor of Molecular Ecophysiology, RWTH Aachen University (Germany)

- Hosted by Professor Monika Chodasiewicz and Professor Heribert Hirt

Join us in Building 2, level 5, room 5209. Light refreshments will be served before the seminar.

If you are unable to attend in person, you can follow the seminar on  Zoom.

Abstract

Oxygen is a prerequisite for plant growth, but it is also an important source for the production of harmful reactive oxygen species. A precise control of the oxygen level within the various tissues of a plant is therefor of uttermost importance. In this presentation, I will explain the multitude of sensing and signalling pathways that exist in plants to control cellular responses to changing oxygen levels. Moreover, I will introduce the tidal region species "Salicornia europaea" as our upcoming model organism for research on multiple stress responses in plants.

About the speaker

Joost T van Dongen studied biology at Utrecht University and Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands. He performed his PhD research on the topic of regulation of membrane transport of assimilates during seed development. In 2002 he moved to the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Golm, Germany. Here he investigated molecular and metabolic adaptations of plants to low oxygen stress. In 2013 he was appointed professor at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Currently, his research unravels the process of decision-making in plants, when adaptive responses to multiple stress factors must be coordinated.