Communications

Mercier is awarded together with four other researchers for introducing asexual reproduction through seeds into rice, an innovation that could hugely simplify efforts to propagate elite plant varieties, thus revolutionizing agriculture and contributing significantly to food security.
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The European Union has reached a provisional agreement on a new regulatory framework for plants developed using new genomic techniques (NGTs). The reform modernises rules that have remained unchanged since 2001 and acknowledges the scientific progress made in precision breeding methods such as CRISPR/Cas. [more]

Professor Paul Schulze-Lefert has been elected as a Fellow of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. In 2025, 46 researchers from around the world received this accolade in recognition of their outstanding scientific achievements. [more]

Prof. Dr. Miltos Tsiantis, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and head of the Department of Comparative Development and Genetics, receives an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The prestigious funding will support his project CLONAL, aimed at advancing our understanding of clonal reproduction by root sucker formation. [more]

Science stepped out of the lab and into the pub as the international Pint of Science Festival returned to Cologne from 19 to 21 May, bringing cutting-edge research to local audiences in a relaxed and approachable setting. The first evening of the event set the tone for an engaging and insightful series, as three of our PhD-students took the stage under the theme “The Future is Female.” [more]

There has been much rejoicing in Düsseldorf, Gatersleben, Jülich and Cologne today: the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science and Humanities Council (WR) announced that the joint CEPLAS Cluster of Excellence (“SMART Plants in Dynamic Environments”) has also been successful in the current funding round of the Excellence Strategy. In addition to Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), which is the lead university, and the University of Cologne, which is the co-lead, the Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research Cologne (MPIPZ) will also be involved in the project. Around 56 million euros in funding was requested for a seven-year period beginning on 1 January 2026.
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Exciting insights into plant research [more]

Marc Somssich receives prize from the German Society for Plant Sciences. [more]