Recognizing Plant Cell first authors: Christina Maria Franck

Christina Maria Franck, first author of The protein phosphatases ATUNIS1 and ATUNIS2 regulate cell wall integrity in tip-growing cells

Current Position: Post-Doctoral position at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zürich (Switzerland)

Education: PhD in Botany, University of Cologne. MSc in Molecular Cell Biology, University of Zürich.

Non-scientific Interests: Running, yoga, bouldering, brewing beer, playing bass and piano.

Brief bio: During my master’s degree at the University of Zürich (UZH) in the lab of Dr. Ueli Grossniklaus, I investigated cell wall mechanics during pollen tube growth and developed an interest in how tip-growing plant cells like pollen tubes monitor their cell wall integrity during rapid growth. In 2015, I joined the newly establishing lab of Dr. Aurélien Boisson-Dernier in Cologne with the objective of identifying novel components of the pollen tube cell wall integrity pathway to gain more insights in how the tight regulation between cell wall status and internal growth machinery is achieved in tip-growing plant cells. During my PhD, I also developed a broader interest in malectin-like receptor kinases and their various important functions in plant cells, especially in plant immunity. This interest led me to join the lab of Dr. Cyril Zipfel at the UZH for a Post-Doc to investigate how malectin-receptor kinases and their ligands regulate plant immunity.