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 Former Lab Members of the AG Leubner (Seed Biology Group Alumnis)

 
The Seed Biology Group Leubner in August 2010. Photographer: Ruwen Kaminski
 

Dr Michael Ignatz
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
KWS Saat SE: Abiotic Stress Tolerance and Seed Quality of Sugar Beet

Email: Michael.Ignatz@rhul.ac.uk
Phone: 01784-44-3553 (office 3-29A) (from abroad: replace 0 with 0044 or ++44)
Phone: 01784-44-3909 (lab 2-04)

Research interests:
  • Seed quality and seedling performance of sugar beet
  • Improving seed and seedling establishment and uniformity upon abiotic stresses
  • Molecular mechanisms of seed priming, aging, vigour and stress responses
  • Interactions between seed compartments and the role of plant hormones
University Website: Dr Michael Ignatz
Project Websites:

  Dr Michael Ignatz


Dr James Hourston
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
AgriTech Catalyst Project on Seed-Microbe

Email: James.Hourston@rhul.ac.uk
Phone: 01784-44-3769 (office 5-17) (from abroad: replace 0 with 0044 or ++44)
Phone: 01784-44-3909 (lab 2-04)

Research interests:
  • Seed-microbe interaction
  • Beneficial microbes as seed treatments
  • Seed ecology and technology
University Website: Dr James Hourston
Project Websites:

 

Thomas Holloway
BBSRC DTP PhD Student
Weed Seed Project with Syngenta

Email: Thomas.Holloway.2012@live.rhul.ac.uk
Phone: 01784-44-3769 (office 5-17) (from abroad: replace 0 with 0044 or ++44)
Phone: 01784-44-3909 (lab 2-04)

Research interests:
  • Weed seed dormancy, longevity, germination, after-ripening and persistence
  • Smoke water and karrikins as weed germination stimulants
  • Molecular and hormonal mechanisms of grass weed seeds
  • Blackgrass germination responses in weed management
University Website: Thomas Holloway
Project Websites:

  Thomas Holloway

Waheed Arshad
NERC DTP PhD Student
SeedAdapt Project on Aethionema Diaspore Dimorphism

Email: Waheed.Arshad.2016@live.rhul.ac.uk
Phone: 01784-44-3769 (office 5-17) (from abroad: replace 0 with 0044 or ++44)
Phone: 01784-44-3909 (lab 2-04)

Research interests:
  • Seed
  • Seed
  • Seed
  • Seed
University Website: Waheed Arshad
Project Websites: www.SeedAdapt.eu

  Waheed Arshad

Dr. Kai Gräber
Postdoctoral Research Assistant 2013-2016, PhD student 2009-2013
DFG Project Brassicaceae Seed Dormancy and DOG1
SeedAdapt Project on Aethionema Diaspore Dimorphism (ERA-CAPS)
Uni Freiburg and Royal Holloway University of London

Email: kai.graeber@rhul.ac.uk

Research interests:
  • Brassicaceae seed germination and dormancy
  • Molecular and hormonal mechanisms of dormancy and the DOG1 (DELAY-OF-GERMINATION) genes
  • Real-time RT-PCR, RT-PCR cloning, other RNA techniques, and bioinformatics
  • Seed and fruit dimorphism of Aethionema arabicum and molecular mechanisms of stress memory
Project Websites: www.SeedAdapt.eu
Kai Gräber

Dr. Antje Voegele
Postdoctoral Research Assistant 2013, PhD student 2010-2013
DFG project Brassicaceae endosperm weakening
Uni Freiburg and Royal Holloway University of London

Research interests:
  • Hormonal regulation of seed germination
  • Interactions between seed tissues and organs
  • Effects of abiotic stress (in particular sub- and supraoptimal temperatures) on seed germination and embryo growth
  • Comparative approaches using different Brassicaceae species
  • Phylogenetic analyses
Further information - My projects: Webpage "Antje Voegele"
Antje Voegele

Dr. Ada Linkies, Dipl.-Ing. Gartenbau (FH)
Postdoctoral researcher 2010-2013, PhD student 2006-2010, Uni Freiburg
DFG project Brassicaceae endosperm weakening

Since 2013: Leiterin Arbeitsgruppe Phytopathologie im Gartenbau, Institut für Phytomedizin, Universität Geisenheim, Germany
Email: Ada.Linkies@hs-gm.de
Phone: +49 6722-502-412

Research interests:
  • Seed biology, basic research and applied aspects
  • Seed germination, its hormonal regulation and the interactions between seed tissues
  • Stress physiology of seed germination and seedling establishment
  • Cross-species approaches that include model and horticultural/agricultural crop plants
  • Seed evolution and environmental adaptation
Further information - My projects: Webpage "Ada Linkies"

Ada Linkies

Dr. Kerstin Müller, MA
Postdoc, ERA-NET PG project vSEED until Feb. 2010, Uni Freiburg
PhD student January 2006 - July 2009

Email: kerstinm@sfu.ca
Address as postdoc: Kermode lab, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
Research interests:
  • Seed germination
  • Reactive oxygen species (ROS)
  • NADH-Oxidases
  • Protein oxidation
  • Plant cell walls
  • Plant homones
  • Biomechanics of seed germination
  • Early stages of seed germination
Further information - My projects: Webpage "Kerstin Müller"

Kerstin Müller

Dr. Karin Weitbrecht
Former PhD student 2009-2013, Uni Freiburg
ERA-NET Plant Genomics project vSEED

Research interests: Biomechanics, transcriptomics and modelling of seed germination.

Further information - My projects: Webpage "vSEED"

Earlier work (Diplomarbeit): Phytopathology - The role of ß-1,3-glucanases in the defense against biotroph pathogens of grapevine.
A collaboration with Dr. Hanns-Heinz Kassemeyer, Staatliches Weinbauinstitut Freiburg, Dept. Biologie & Phytopathologie:
Webpage "Weinbauinstitut"

 

Dr. Annette Büttner-Mainik
Postdoctoral researcher 2010-2012, Uni Freiburg
KWS sugarbeet germination project

Since 2013: Leiterin Saatgutprüflabor und Stv. Forschungsgruppenleiterin, Agroscope Institut für Pflanzenbauwissenschaften IPB Forschungsbereich Ackerbau, Saatgutqualität, Switzerland
Web: www.agroscope.ch
Email: annette.buettner@agroscope.admin.ch
Phone: +++41 58 468 72 84

Research interests:

  • Sugarbeet germination, seed technology and seed aging,
  • Seed quality, germination and seedling establishment
  • Basic research and applied aspects of seed biology
Anette Büttner-Mainik

Dr Safina Khan
Technician
Weed Seed Project with Syngenta and RocketSeed Project with RHS

Email: Safina.Khan@rhul.ac.uk
Phone: 01784-44-3909 (lab 2-04)

Research interests:
  • Seed
  • Seed
  • Seed
  • Seed
Project Websites:

  Thomas Holloway

Bliss Buttery
MSc Student
Lepidium sativum Seed Aging and Germination

Email: Bliss.Buttery.2013@live.rhul.ac.uk
Phone: 01784-44-3909 (lab 2-04)

Research interests:
  • Seed
  • Seed
  • Seed
  • Seed
University Website: Bliss Buttery
Project Websites:

  Thomas Holloway

Dr. Terezie Urbanova
Postdoctoral Research Assistant 2012-2013, Royal Holloway University of London
Hormonal regulation of Brassicaceae germination and dormancy


Research interests: Molecular biology of seed dormancy and hormonal regulation.


Dr Gemma Baron
Research Assistant 2015-2016, Royal Holloway University of London

Research interests:
  • Seed hormone analysis
  • Seed tissue disecction
  • Biomechanical assays

Dipl.-Biol. Martin Reith
Research Assistant 2012-2014, Royal Holloway University of London
Wheat grain biomechanics (Buehler)

Research interests:
  • Biomechanics of seeds and other plant tissues
  • Development of biomechanical assays
  • Wheat grain milling
  • Seed water uptake


Dr. Krystyna Oracz
Postdoctoral researcher, Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, June 2009 to July 2011

Email: krystyna_oracz@sggw.pl

My research activities cover the following aspects:
  • Germination and seed dormancy -
    with a focus on Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), protein oxidation and
    their interaction with hormones (i.e. ethylene);
  • Cell wall modifications during seed germination and embryo growth;
  • Oxidative stress and antioxidant system in plants;
  • Post-translational modifications of proteins (i.e. oxidation, phosphorylation)
    in desiccation tolerance of resurrection plants;
  • Physiological, biochemical and molecular basis of allelopathy.
Further information - My projects: Webpage "Krystyna Oracz"

AvH Krys Oracz

Dr. Sebastian Busch
Postdoctoral researcher
ERA-NET Plant Genomics project vSEED until 2010


Research interests: Biomechanics and modelling of seed germination.

Further information - My projects: Webpage "vSEED"

 

Dipl.-Biol. Claudia Scheler
Diploma student 2011
DFG project Brassicaceae endosperm weakening


Research interests: Cell wall modifications during endosperm weakening and embryo growth in germinating seeds.

Further information - My projects: Webpage "Krystyna Oracz"

  Claudia scheler

Dipl.-Biol. Katrin Biermann
Diploma student 2012
Jasmonates and seed germination


Research interests:
  • Seed germination analysis
  • Plant hormone interactions
Further information - My projects: Webpage "Ada Linkies"

 

Dipl.-Biol. Karol Buchta
Bioinformatics expert 2011/2012

Member of the Rensing-lab: www.plantco.de

Research interests: Brassicaceae RNA-seq bioinformatic analysis

 

Sophie Berckhan
Bachelor student summer 2011
since autumn 2011 PhD student in the Holdsworth-lab


Research interests: Hormone receptors in Lepidium endosperm weakening
 

Andrea Freund
Bachelor student summer 2011


Research interests: Hormonal interactions in Lepidium seed germination
 

Dipl.-Biotech. Magdalena Jura
PhD student and research assistant
DFG project Brassicaceae endosperm weakening


Research interests:
  • Seed germination analysis with a focus on gene function and regulation in the endosperm of Brassicaceae species
  • Cell wall modifications during endosperm weakening and embryo growth in germinating seeds
  • Metabolism of amino acids in Erwinia chrysanthemi
Further information - My projects: Webpage "Krystyna Oracz"

  Magdalena Jura

Maren Siegrist
'Staatsexamen" student 2010/2011


Research interests: Molecular biology of seed dormancy. Gene cloning and transgenic plant production.

Further information - My projects: Webpage "Kai Gräber"

 

Johannes Lörcher
'Staatsexamen" student 2010/2011


Research interests: Molecular biology of seed germination. Gene cloning and transgenic plant production.

Further information - My projects: Webpage "vSEED"

 

Linda Kern
Diploma student 2010


Research interests: Phytopathology - The role of ß-1,3-glucanases in the defense against biotroph pathogens of grapevine.
A collaboration with Dr. Hanns-Heinz Kassemeyer, Staatliches Weinbauinstitut Freiburg, Dept. Biologie & Phytopathologie: Webpage "Weinbauinstitut"

 

Dott.ssa Elisa Petrollini
PhD student, research visit April-October 2010,
from University of Molise, Italy

Research interests: Seed proteome analysis, hormonal regulation, and molecular techniques in seed research.
Further information - My projects: Webpage "Ada Linkies"

PhD student at the University of Molise, Italy. Lab of Prof. Stefania Scippa, Germoplasm Bank Molise
 

Dominique Jacquemoud
Master student, internship 2010 from Lyon University


Research interests:
  • Mode of action of allelopathic substances during seed germination
  • Gene expression and protein modification in germinating seeds, with a focus on ROS and hormones interactions
  • Natural substances purification, identification and valorization
Further information - My projects: Webpages "Seed allelopathy" and "Krystyna Oracz"

Master student at the University of Lyon, France. Lab of Prof. Gilles Comte
  Dominique Jaquemoud


Prof. Charles A. Knight
Visiting Scientist, summer 2009 to summer 2010

Email: knight@calpol.edu
Cal Poly Biological Science Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, USA

Research Interests:
  • Plant evolutionary biology
  • Ecophysiology and ecology
  • Factors that affect species distribution and abundance
  • Genome size variation in angiosperms
  • Statistical methods in ecology
Further information - Webpage "Charles Knight"
 

Anita Rott
Diploma student until December 2009


Research interests: The effects of seed after-ripening studied by expression analysis of alpha-amylase in wheat Rht mutants by qRT-PCR and seed germination of cress under temperature stress and upon treatment with plant hormones.

Further information - My projects: Webpage "Seed allelopathy"

 

Sonja Rentzsch
"Staatsexamen" student until April 2007
Research assistant


Research interests:
  • Hormone mutants of cereal crops
  • Hydrolase gene expression during seed germination
  • Bud dormancy release of potato tubers
  • Allelopathic substances and seed interactions

Further information - My projects: Webpage "Seed allelopathy"
  Sonja Rentzsch

Dagmara Podzimska
Erasmus/Sokrates exchange student


Research interests:
  • Hormone mutants of cereal crops
  • Hydrolase gene expression during seed germination
  • Bud dormancy release of potato tubers
  • Allelopathic substances and seed interactions

Further information - My projects: Webpage "Seed allelopathy"

Master student at the University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
  Dagmara Podzimska

Tina Carstens
Diploma student


Research interests: Molecular biology of seed germination. Gene cloning and transgenic plant production.

Further information - My projects: Webpage ""
 

Meike Wenk
Diploma student


Research interests: I like seed and seedling physiology, especially if it involves the effects of plant hormones and environmental factors. Taking microscopic pictures of small seeds is fascinating.

Further information - My projects: Webpage "Ada Linkies"

  Meike Wenk

Julia Winnewisser
Undergraduate student until December 2007


Research interests: Seed germination assays.

Further information - My projects: Webpage "Ada Linkies"
  Julia Winnewisser

Andrea Wünschová
Erasmus/Sokrates exchange student until September 2007


Research interests: Seed germination and dormancy

Further information - My projects: Webpage "Ada Linkies"

Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Brno, Czech Republic
 

Uta Schuster-Scherpa
Diploma student until June 2007


Research interests:
  • Seed germination
  • Reactive oxygen species (ROS)
  • Plant homones
Further information - My projects: - My projects: Webpage "Kerstin Müller"
  Uta Schuster-Scherpa

Prof. Dr. Xiaofeng Wang
Senior visiting fellow

Guest scientist in 2006 (China Scholarship) from the College of Life Sciences,
South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Email: xfwang@scau.edu.cn

Research interests:
  • Cell wall degradation in plant growth and development
  • Hydrolases like ß-1,4-mannanase and ß-1,3-glucanase and seed germination
  • Dessication tolerance and storage of recalcitrant tropical tree seeds
  • Varietal discrimination and genetic purity testing of crop seeds

Further information - South China Agricultural University:
http://xy.scau.edu.cn/SWJSXY/teacher.aspx?id=wangxiaofeng

  Xiaofeng Wang

Madeleine Imbeck
"Maturarbeit" December 2004 to February 2005

Title of the work: "Pflanzliche Keimhemmungsmittel bei der Kartoffellagerung: Die Wirkung verschiedener Sprossungsinhibitoren auf die Aktivitäten hydrolytischer Enzyme in Kartoffelaugen".

This "Maturarbeit" about potato tuber sprouting was submitted to the "Schweizer Jugend forscht (sjf)" competition 2006. It reached the final round consisting of nine submitted research projects and was evaluated as excellent ("hervorragend"). The sjf competion is a national contest of projects each year that are conducted by young people in Switzerland, mostly highschool pupils.
 

Dr. Stefanie Tintelnot
Postdoc

Research interests:
  • Plant physiology: Influence of environmental parameters on plant development from seeds to adult plants as a focus
  • Seed biology: Germination and seedling development
  • Plant hormones and light: Factors regulating seedling emergence and uniformity
  • Biotechnology: Applied aspects of seeds and seedlings, e.g. seed quality, enhancements, technology, priming, coating, pelleting, resistance towards seed-associated pathogens
Further information - My projects: Webpage "Stefanie Tintelnot"
  Stefanie Tintelnot

Dr. Birgit Kucera
Postdoc until August 2005

Scientific interests:
  • Plant physiology: Influence of environmental parameters (light, UV, stress) on plant development from seeds to adult plants as a focus
  • Seed biology: Germination and seedling development
  • Plant hormones and light: Factors regulating seedling emergence and uniformity
  • Biotechnology: Applied aspects of seeds and seedlings, e.g. seed quality, enhancements, technology, priming, coating, pelleting, resistance towards seed-associated pathogens
I am now working as a teacher for chemistry and biology.
 

Barbara Heß
Undergraduate student until August 2005


Scientific interests: I like molecular techniques with DNA or RNA, especially PCR cloning, RT-PCR, and real-time PCR. Getting sequences with the right order of ATGC is great. I enjoyed very much working together with Kerstin. Now I am working in the biochemistry group of the university (AG Schroda).
 

Christoph Klüppel
Undergraduate student until August 2005


Scientific interests: I studied theology and biology and I am now a teacher. My last experiment in the lab was determining tobacco isotherm curves and I am very experienced in finding interesting literature.
 


Valerié Labonté
Undergraduate student until December 2006


Research interests: Microbiology

  Valerie Labonte

Lab Members - Seed Biology Group Leubner early in 2010

AG Leubner February 2010

The Seed Biology Group Leubner early in 2010. Photographer: Johannes Fehrle

Lab Members - Seed Biology Group Leubner early in 2010

AG Leubner February 2010

The Seed Biology Group Leubner early in 2010. Photographer: Johannes Fehrle

Lab Members - Seed Biology Group Leubner in Summer 2006

Ag Leubner summer 2006

The Seed Biology Group Leubner in Summer 2006. Photographer: Johannes Fehrle

Lab Members - Seed Biology Group Leubner in Summer 2006

AG Leubner June 2006

The Seed Biology Group Leubner in Summer 2006. Photographer: Johannes Fehrle

Lab Members - Seed Biology Group (AG Leubner) in Spring 2005




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