Building on the versatile and magnificent world of green microalgae, we investigate basic principles of plant cell biology and translate our understandings into innovative technologies.

We focus on the chloroplast, the plant’s major energy producer, and seek to advance our mechanistic understanding of the biogenesis and protein quality control of this critical plant organelle in steady-state and stress conditions. 

 

Our uniqueness is in the toolkit. In order to gain true mechanistic understanding, we develop clever genetic tools, forward and reverse genetic screens and fluorescence-based large-scale imaging approaches at a single-cell resolution, in the powerful Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

 

Alongside our fundamental science goals, we seek to pioneer agritech and foodtech solutions. This includes engineering algae for multiple functions, turning them into a groundbreaking production platform for nutrients and proteins and paving the way for plants that are highly resilient to global warming and can better sustain life on our planet into the next millennia.