GRK 1525:  The Dynamic Response of Plants to a Changing Environment

• Subject Area: Plant Sciences
• Term: from 2009 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 65369579

The aim of this International Research Training Group is to offer an interdisciplinary and international training programme and high quality research projects to excellent students of biology, biochemistry and bioinformatics working towards a PhD degree. The programme of the Research Training Group focusses on the dynamic responses of plants to a changing environment at the cellular and tissue level, such as signal transduction pathways, metabolic and physiological responses, allelic variation of specific cellular traits and biochemical adaptation of plants to their environment.
The graduates can choose between projects grouped into three themes: “Photo-oxidative stress and antioxidative defense”, “C4 photosynthesis as adaptation to abiotic stress” and “Intrinsic and extrinsic control of growth in response to environmental cues”. The faculty of the International Research Training Group consists of ten faculty members of the Heinrich-Heine University and the Forschungszentrum Jülich, and 15 faculty members at the Michigan State University, one of the strongest plant research groups in the United States.
The Research Training Group will team up with the graduate programme in Genetics at the Michigan State University. All graduate students will complete six- to nine-month research stays at the partner institution. Therefore, the international collaboration will provide a rich environment for graduate training and promote mobility and integration of the graduate researchers into the international research community.
The International Research Training Group was initiated mid 2009 and so far eleven students could have been recruited, including four students from abroad. Each student’s graduation committee consists of two local faculty members and one professor from the partner university to facilitate coordinated research projects. In addition to their research projects, the graduates participate in regular seminars, lab courses and lectures of the contributing institutes in order to guarantee a broad and high quality education. The goal of the programme is to evolve the partnership of the Heinrich-Heine University and the Michigan State University into a joint degree programme, through which the students will be able to earn a PhD degree granted cooperatively by both universities.

• DFG Programme: International Research Training Groups
• International Connection: USA
• Applicant Institution: Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
• IRTG-Partner Institution: Michigan State University
• Participating Institution: Forschungszentrum Jülich
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Andreas P.M. Weber
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Christoph Benning, Ph.D.; Professorin Federica Brandizzi, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. C. Robin Buell; Professor Dr. Yuehua Cui; Professor Brad Day, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Eva Maria Farré; Professorin Dr. Maren L. Friesen; Professor Dr. Sheng Yang He; Professorin Susanne Hoffmann-Benning, Ph.D.; Professor Jianping Hu, Ph.D.; Professor David Mark Kramer, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Robert L. Last; Professorin Jennifer Lau, Ph.D.; Professorin Beronda L. Montgomery, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Thomas D. Sharkey; Professor Shin-Han Shiu, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Jonathan D. Walton; Professor Curtis G. Wilkerson, Ph.D.
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Petra Bauer; Professor Dr. Michael Feldbrügge; Professor Dr. Georg Groth; Professor Dr. Peter Jahns; Professor Dr. Martin Lercher; Professorin Dr. Nicole Linka; Privatdozentin Shizue Matsubara, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Laura Rose; Professor Dr. Rüdiger Simon; Professor Dr. Peter Westhoff; Professor Jürgen Zeier, Ph.D.
• IRTG-Partner: Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Barbara Sears