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Iris Meier

Iris Meier

Iris Meier

Professor, Molecular Genetics

meier.56@osu.edu

520 Aronoff Laboratory
318 W 12th Ave
Columbus, OH
43210

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Areas of Expertise

  • Plant nuclear envelope
  • Male fertility
  • Guard cell function

Education

  • Bachelors/Masters Microbiology, Darmstadt Technical University, Germany
  • Ph.D. Biophysics, University of Düsseldorf, Germany
Iris Meier holds a Bachelors/Masters degree in microbiology from Darmstadt Technical University and a Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Düsseldorf, both in Germany. She did postdoctoral training in plant molecular biology at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding, Cologne, Germany, and at UC Berkeley, followed by group-leader positions at the University of Hamburg, Germany and the Dupont Experimental Station, Wilmington, Delaware. She joined the OSU faculty in 1999.
 
We study the proteins that reside in the Arabidopsis nuclear envelope (LINC complexes) and how they are involved in moving nuclei through pollen tubes (important for plant male fertility), the anchoring of plant Ran signaling, nuclear morphology, the function of guard cells, and resistance against an oomycete pathogen. To discover the molecular mechanism behind these phenomena, we are investigating cytoplasmic and nuclear interactors of plant LINC complex components, their precise role in male fertility and guard cell function, additional novel nuclear envelope proteins, and LINC complex homologs in other plant species. In this context, we are interested in all aspects of nuclear movements in plants, and specifically in those that are related to plant-microbe interactions, both in pathogenesis and in symbiosis. Towards that end, we have started to work on an additional plant model organism, Medicago truncatula, that is host to both nitrogen-fixing bacteria (nodulation) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. 

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