News

On the occasion of the 7th International Plant Vascular Biology Conference from July 7 to 11 in Osaka (PVB2025), Prof. Dr. Uwe Sonnewald was able to present the work of the Chair of Biochemistry on the biotechnological improvement of cassava plants to an expert audience in Osaka, Japan. He reported ...Continue

At the international conference on the green and efficient production of potatoes and sweet potatoes, Prof. Dr. Uwe Sonnewald was able to present the work of the Chair of Biochemistry on the heat tolerance of potatoes to an audience of over 200 scientists. The aim of the conference was to deepen and...Continue

The Plant2030 status seminar took place in Potsdam from 5 - 7 March this year. However, what is Plant2030? Plant2030 accompanies all programs in the field of applied plant research that are funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in Germany.

The Chair of Biochemistry is in...Continue

The 32nd Plant and Animal Genome science conference took place in San Diego from 10-15 January 2025. This conference is recognized as one of the largest gatherings in biology research, attracting approximately 2400 participants from 66 countries. It featured hundreds of scientific sessions and exhib...Continue

Aim of the project is to find better disease resistance and greater tolerance to heat and drought.

Find more details in this link.Continue

We would like to thank all our colleagues, friends and supporters for their trustful partnership, without which our work would not be possible, and we look forward to continuing our fruitful partnerships in the coming year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Continue

Prof. Dr. Uwe Sonnewald attended the 5th International Conference on Plant Metabolism (ICPM2024) which took place from November 21-25, 2024 in Sanya, China.

The conference, which takes place every three years, focused on the topic of “Plant Metabolism and Design Breeding”. The focus was on aspect...Continue

How do genetics influence heat tolerance in potato?

Climate change increases the occurrence of heat waves and other extreme weather conditions, which are a particular challenge for sensitive crops such as potatoes. Improving heat tolerance in potato is a topic that the Department of Biochemistry ...Continue

Prof. Dr. Uwe Sonnewald is inviting to the upcoming PlantER lecture given by PD Dr. Ljudmilla Borisjuk , IPK Gatersleben:

Title:  Seeing plants as never before

Time: Thursday, Dec. 12 2024, 2:15 PM

Location:  Lecture Hall B , Staudtstr. 5, 91058 Erlangen

Notice with Abstract: ( PDF )Continue

I am Ewane Kounty Herman Pascal, a PhD student at the University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. My research focuses on root and tuber crops, particularly cassava (Manihot esculenta) and cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium), two widely consumed species in tropical regions.

In 2021, I completed my master’s ...Continue

Dr. Tetyana Tsykun has started a project on the population genomics of two forest pathogens, Phytophthora plurivoraand P. x cambivora. Supported by DFG, the study, titled "Molecular Epidemiology of Phytophthora x cambivora as a Co-Dominant Factor in Beech Tree Decline in European Forests", will be c...Continue

On July 23, a class from the Fachoberschule Nuremberg visited the Chair of Biochemistry. The students are already preparing for their seminar papers in the upcoming school year around the topic "Sustainable Innovations: The Role of Genetic Engineering in Environmental Protection and Resource Conserv...Continue

Researchers from the Chair of Biochemistry, together with partners from the CASS research network, investigated the question of why provitamin A-rich cassava roots ("yellow cassava") have a reduced starch content. The results have now been published in The Plant Journal (Gutschker et al., 2024). It ...Continue

In addition to heat, late blight is threatening the potato harvest in Europe. In order to protect the harvest, farmers are dependent on plant protection products whose effectiveness and range of application are decreasing due to new EU regulations and the development of resistant and aggressive fung...Continue

On June 7, 2024, three doctoral students had the opportunity to visit the plant breeding and biotechnology company KWS in Einbeck and take part in the TalentCampus. The event allowed us to take a look behind the scenes of the breeding company's research and development departments.

We visited the...Continue

At the end of May, the members of the EU-funded ADAPT project met for a two-day project meeting in Bonn (photo).

Following previous years' network meetings in Brno (CZE), Wageningen (NLD) and Ljubljana (SVN), this was the fourth and final meeting of the European wide academic and industrial proje...Continue

Our latest publication highlights important aspects of the primary metabolism of cassava (Manihot esculenta) by describing the most likely pathway of sugars from source to sink by combining computational, biochemical and anatomical methods. Cassava, unlike potato and other staple crops, is a perenni...Continue

The Chair of Biochemistry invites:

Lecture given by Prof. Dr. Ute Vothknecht from the University of Bonn:

The interplay between ABA, JA and SA during drought stress response in Arabidopsis and potato

Time and location: Thursday, April 18th 2024, 3:30 pm, Lecture hall C, Staudtstr. 5, 91058 ...Continue

The 37th Conference „Molecular Biology of Plants“ took place in Hennef from the 4th until the 7th of march. Two of our PhD students – Yannick Schnauhuber and Lisa Koch – attended the Conference to present their current research.

Lisa Koch gave a talk with the title: “Yield reduction in potato cau...Continue

Over 25 million euros from Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One) is providing approximately 25.8 million euros (28 million US dollars) in funding for an international research project led by FAU: The non-profit organizatio...Continue

On February 21st, 2024, we celebrated the first Doctoral student’s Day within the department of Biology. Many students and employees of the department attended this event to hear about the research conducted by senior PhD candidates from different chairs at the department.

The keynote speaker of ...Continue

Potato is one of the most important staple food crops, consumed by millions of people worldwide. Unfortunately, potato plants display diminished yield in response to heat stress, which is especially problematic in the face of constantly increasing ambient temperatures.

We investigated whether the...Continue

We invite to the lecture given by Prof. Dr. Korbinian Schneeberger, LMU Biocampus, Computational Genetics, Munich, Germany.

Title:  “Using computational genetics to study plant genomes”

Time:         Thursday , October 5th 2023, 2:15 PM

Location:   Lecture Hall C, Staudtstr. 5, 91058 Er...Continue

134. VDLUFA congress in Freising: From 5th to 8th of September 2023, the Hochschule Weihenstephan-Triesdorf (HSWT) hosted the 134. congress of the Vereinigung deutscher landwirtschaftlicher Forschungs- und Untersuchungsanstalten (VDLUFA) in Freising, Germany. Alexander Kaier, PhD student in our Bio...Continue

The future of plant breeding: PhD student participates in workshop How can we breed crops as efficient as possible to sustain food supply in the future? To investigate this research question, Alexander Kaier, PhD student in our Biocomputing Lab, participated in the annual work shop in genomic predi...Continue