Justus Niemeyer: The Plant Cell First Author

Justus Niemeyer, first author of “Real-time Monitoring of Subcellular H2O2 Distribution in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii“

Current Position:

PhD student in Prof. Michael Schroda’s lab in the Department of Molecular Biotechnology & Systems Biology, TU Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany

Education:

Bachelor in Biosciences and Master in Microbial and Plant Biotechnology from the TU Kaiserslautern

Non-scientific Interests:

I enjoy traveling to discover new sites and cultures, being in nature for hiking and mountain biking, and spending time with my family and friends.

Brief bio:

I have always been passionate about natural sciences and especially biology. When I started my bachelor’s degree in biosciences, I wanted to deepen my knowledge and interest in plant sciences. I started in the department of Plant Physiology in the group of Prof. Ekkehard Neuhaus, where I characterized two putative members of the T2 ribonuclease family in Arabidopsis thaliana. During my master studies, I realized the enormous potential of synthetic biology. I was eager to combine these two interests, so I joined the lab of Prof. Michael Schroda. Under his supervision, I helped with building a modular cloning library for Chlamydomonas. In my PhD studies, I added the roGFP2-Tsa2ΔC_R hypersensitive H₂O₂ sensor to the library, which fueled my curiosity in signaling molecules. We investigated H₂O₂ production and diffusion at the subcellular level upon changes in environmental conditions such as high light intensities and heat. We postulate the establishment of intracellular gradients that limit H₂O₂ diffusion within the cell. We aim to provide the community with cutting-edge tools for a better understanding of the fascinating roles of H₂O₂ in plant biology.