Plants produce a plethora of specialized metabolites. These allow plants not only to cope with numerous environmental challenges, but they can also have beneficial effects on humans. Many plant species have been successfully used in traditional medicine. Investigations of specialized plant metabolism can reveal the biosynthesis pathways and enable heterologous production of drug candidates. Our fundamental research on biosynthetic pathways paves the way for translation into industrial applications.
Plant genomes harbour genes, which are the blue prints for enzymes involved in various biosynthetic pathways. Knowledge about plant genomes unravels the mysteries of the specialized biosynthetic pathways in plants. Rapid developments in long read sequencing technologies enable us to study even large and complex plant genomes.
Specific biological questions can be answered through sophisticated tools. Automatic analysis of large data sets and the intregration of genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic data are often required. Applications include the discovery of biosynthetic pathways and their regulators, the detection of biosynthetic gene clusters, and the identification of tolerance/resistance mechanisms. Bioinformatic tools are an effective way to generate hypotheses and to guide molecular biology experiments.
The Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics group is present on several social media plattforms. Most post are in English to reach an international audience.
Twitter: @PuckerLab
LinkedIn: @PuckerLab
Instagram: @PuckerLab
Mastodon: @PuckerLab
Please contact Boas Pucker via email. There are always projects for master and bachelor theses available, but we also encourage pursuing your own project ideas. Projects offered to bachelor/master students have the potential to result in publications.
If you are interested in pursuing a PhD/postdoc in our group, please send your CV and a statement about your interest in our work. There are many opportunities to apply for fellowships through DFG, EMBO, Marie Sklodowska Curie, DAAD, and others. Please contact us several weeks ahead of the submission deadlines so that we can plan a suitable research project together. Please be specific with respect to your reason for selecting our group. Generic mass emails will not be answered.