Welcome to the Molecular Stress Physiology research group

Diatoms are unicellular algae that inhabit all aquatic habitats and belong to the most important primary producers on earth. They are known for their resilience to changing environmental conditions, but what is the basis for this acclimation capacity? In our group we study how the photosynthetic light reaction is regulated in response to light and temperature stress. We investigate how changing abiotic factors affect the compartmental redox dynamics. We study how the plastid generates a signaling cascade that influences the expression of particular gene sets in response to external stimuli. And we integrate concepts of synthetic biology in diatoms.

We mainly use Phaeodactylum tricornutum as our workhorse and apply state-of-the art molecular biology tools in combination with physiological, biochemical and bioinformatics techniques.