Team

ERA Chair in plant molecular biology

Jiří Friml is recognised as a leading plant biologist in Europe and worldwide. He belongs to the most cited developmental and cell biologists also beyond the plant field. He has a comprehensive experience from working at top European research institutions, including Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany; University of Tübingen, Germany; Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), Gent, Belgium. He is currently located at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). He has an excellent reputation as a mentor, who has brought up more than a dozen of successful, independent PIs in plant biology. As member of many advisory boards around the world and head of central life science support facility at ISTA, he has ample experience with science management. He has been an EMBO member since 2010; and received many international awards, for example The Otto Hahn Medal, EMBO Young Investigator Award, Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, Odysseus Award, Körber European Science Award, EMBO Gold Medal, Erwin Schrödinger Prize, Neuron Award for Lifetime Contribution to Science. Importantly, he is motivated to share his research and leadership experience with BC, to implement highest European standards and drive forward development of BC for the future.

Jiří Friml, ERA Chair in plant molecular biology, 23 May 2023; Photo: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Biology Centre CAS, Jakub Hardt

IPMB International Advisory Board (2023-2027)

  • Jiří Friml (Chair), Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria; Developmental and cell biology
  • Asaph Aharoni, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; Metabolomics, microbes interaction, bioinformatics
  • Susana Coelho, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Germany; Algal development and evolution
  • Bert De Rybel, VIB Gent, Belgium; Development biology and biochemistry
  • Xiaoqi Feng, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria; Plant reproduction, epigenetics
  • Guido Grossmann, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany; Cellular morphogenesis, growth regulation, cell-to-cell communication
  • Julia Santiago Cuellar, University of Lausanne, Switzerland; Structural plant biology, biophysics, membrane signalling
First meeting of IPMB International Advisory Board: from left to right Guido Grossmann, Julia Santiago Cuellar, Bert De Rybel, Jiří Friml and Asaph Aharoni, 23 May 2023; Photo: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Biology Centre CAS, Jakub Hardt

ERA Chair research groups

Recruitment of two new group leaders is still in progress

ERA Chair support team

  • Alexey Bondar, Bioimaging Facility Specialist
  • Jan Kadlec, Growth Facility Manager
  • Tomáš Kocábek, IPMB Lab Service Manager
  • Markéta Kubátová, Outreach Manager
  • Alena Matyášová, Bioimaging Facility Technician
  • Tomáš Mozga, Project Manager
  • Daniela Procházková, Communication Manager