Research focus

Climate change, a growing global population, and the depletion of natural resources are major challenges for food security. To meet these challenges, plant-based innovations are more important than ever.
Rapid environmental change underscores the need for advances in plant and microbial biology to create resilient, resource-efficient crops.
 

CEPLAS conducts cutting-edge fundamental research to understand the genetic and biological principles behind complex plant traits and understand how plants respond to changing environmental conditions, including their interactions with associated microorganisms.
Our goal is to predict how plants will perform under future conditions and to "program" next-generation SMART plants - plants with novel traits combinations and improved ability to adapt.
We are developing models that connect a plant’s genes, traits, and microbial partners to show how they interact—and how they can be modified to improve a plant’s ability to adapt to changing environments
 
We focus on two key biological challenges relevant for improving the plant’s resilience and nutrient efficiency:

• How plants balance growth and metabolism – Understanding how development and energy use are coordinated across different levels, from cells to the whole plant-microbe system in changing environments.
• How plants interact with beneficial microbes – Exploring how these relationships help plants adapt to soil conditions and environmental stress.
   

Previously, we dissected complex traits - such as development and plant-microbe interactions - into smaller, manageable components and identified the underlying genes, molecules, and metabolic networks. 
Now we take the next step: understanding how these trait components interact and are coordinated in response to internal and external signals - from the cellular level to the entire plant-microbe system.