Joint dual career fellowship for a research couple at HHU

16/01/2025

Research projects join forces: Collaborative Research Centers in Biology and CEPLAS supported joint research stay of research couple.

Petra Bauer, Antje Heese, Scott Peck, Michael Feldbrügge

The Mercator Fellowship Program of the German Research Foundation promotes international exchange in science and enables researchers to actively participate in projects and work as visiting professors at other research institutions. However, participation is a challenge for many scientists whose partners are also active in research - especially if the programs mean longer, transnational separations.

An innovative step has now been taken through the collaboration of the Cluster of Excellence CEPLAS, the Transregional Collaborative Research Center (TRR) 341 “Plant Ecological Genetics” and the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1535 “Microbial Networking, MibiNet”: The first “Dual-Career-Fellowship” was awarded to Prof. Dr. Antje Heese and Prof. Dr. Scott Peck from the University of Missouri-Columbia (USA). This format enabled both researchers to conduct research at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) at the same time and pass on their knowledge to early career researchers.

While Antje Heese worked as a visiting professor in the laboratory of Petra Bauer (Institute of Botany, HHU) and was supported by CEPLAS and TRR 341, Scott Peck worked in the laboratory of Wolf Frommer (Institute of Molecular Physiology, HHU) and was supported by the SFB MibiNet. Together they were able to organize a four-month research stay and at the same time work closely with the scientists from CEPLAS, TRR 341 and MibiNet. In addition to several lectures, the research tandem also offered several workshops for the early career researchers of the joint programs.

This targeted support for foreign researcher pairs sets new standards by not only taking greater account of private circumstances, but also by inspiring excellent scientists for international research projects. Michael Feldbrügge, who is not only MibiNet spokesperson but also a CEPLAS member, was very satisfied with the researcher pair's stay: “Such programs create additional skills and an intensive transfer of knowledge that strengthens the research projects in the long term. Furthermore, we have successfully established contacts with the University of Missouri-Columbia in order to strengthen our international visibility”.

About the researchers

Antje Heese is an Associate Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the Department of Biochemistry. She grew up in Germany and completed her studies in plant physiology at the Ruhr University Bochum. This was followed by a PhD in “Botany and Plant Pathology” at Michigan State University and two postdoctoral fellowships at the Biozentrum Basel and the Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich.

Antje Heese's research focuses on the defense mechanisms of plants against infections by pathogenic bacteria at the cellular level. She investigates vesicular transport proteins that bring other defense proteins to the cellular sites where they act. Recently, she and her team discovered that several vesicular transport proteins also help to regulate the uptake and distribution of the essential micronutrient iron (Fe) in plants. She also worked on this topic during her time in Prof. Petra Bauer's laboratory at HHU.

Scott Peck is Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He investigates how plants perceive and react to changes in their environment. When plants recognize that they are infected with bacteria, they initiate defensive responses to stop the bacterial invasion. He has also recently started researching how bacteria recognize the presence of a potential host. Chemical signals from plants appear to cause bacteria to become more infectious, which could provide important information for improving plant resistance.

During his stay at HHU, he passed on his detailed knowledge of metabolomics and mass spectrometry to members of the CRC MibiNet and, in particular, supported early career researchers through corresponding workshops. He has successfully initiated a number of new collaborations, as the bacteria interact not only with the plant but also with other plant-associated microorganisms, which is a key research area of MibiNet.