Katharina Bürstenbinder will take up a professorship in cell biology at Philipps-Universität Marburg on November 1, 2023. This marks the end of a very successful and remarkably dedicated time at IPB for the head of the Cellular Coordination group. Her IPB period started in 2010, when the young Berlin-born PhD graduate moved directly from the University of Kiel to the IPB department of Molecular Signal Processing, where she laid the foundation for her current research. In particular, she is focusing on the characterization of IQD proteins, a protein family that consists of 33 members in Arabidopsis alone. As calmodulin-binding factors, IQDs are apparently involved in numerous plant growth and development processes, but their specific task in the cellular framework was yet to be discovered.
Elucidating the function of these poorly studied proteins was a stated goal of Ms. Bürstenbinder, which she pursued successfully and with great tenacity (see <link en public-relations press-releases press-detail newsticker-wissenschaft-72-zellbiologie>news tickers #72, <link en public-relations press-releases press-detail newsticker-wissenschaft-84-zellbiologie>#84, <link en public-relations press-releases press-detail newsticker-wissenschaft-110-zellwandpolymere>#110, and <link en public-relations press-releases press-detail newsticker-wissenschaft-150-zellbiologie>#150). According to her results, some of the IQDs are tightly coupled to the cytoskeleton. They play a major role, especially during phases of cell division, in the correct formation of the division plane and control the shape and size of leaf epidermal cells. The absence of these IQDs in mutant plants results in defective division planes and abnormally formed cells. This deviation from the norm in cell architecture - especially in leaf epidermis cells, which are naturally irregularly shaped - initially was a subjective impression and could only be proven by laborious measurements of single cells including their lobes and gaps. A time-intensive task and not objective enough, Ms. Bürstenbinder found. Thus, together with two MLU computer scientists, she developed PaceQuant - an open-source program that automatically records and evaluates the specific parameters of a hundred epidermal cells simultaneously (see <link en public-relations press-releases press-detail mit-ipacequanti-pflanzenzellen-vermessen>Measuring plant cell shapes with PaCeQuant).
This close exchange with other experts, the contact with chemists and computer scientists, not only on campus but of course also at IPB, is something Ms. Bürstenbinder has particularly appreciated here. "Plus, the technical equipment of the institute is of course outstanding," says the biologist, "and I was given sufficient time to benefit from these excellent conditions to achieve my first scientific successes. I am very grateful for that." Time that she put to good use. Based on her excellent research results, Ms. Bürstenbinder was last year included in AcademiaNet - an expert database for outstanding female scientists. In addition to her scientific milestones, Ms. Bürstenbinder has made contributions to several other areas. She has been a Project Manager according to the Genetic Engineering Law, Speaker of the Scientific Institute Council and Diversity Officer of the IPB. She also readily engaged in teaching courses for both bachelor's and master's students. In Marburg, teaching will continue seamlessly with the master's module in cell biology starting on November 3. As for her research, there are of course still many exciting questions to be answered about the plant cytoskeleton. We congratulate her and wish her great success!
