Humboldt Research Award for Prof. Dr. Sabeeha Merchant

Equipped with a EUR 60.000 sponsorship the Californian researcher spends a sabbatical at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology.

June 11, 2012

Just a month ago Prof. Dr. Sabeeha Merchant lived in a loud and hectic North American metropolis, now she is woken up by the sounds of her neighbor’s cows. What brought her from Los Angeles to Golm, Potsdam, Germany, was not the fresh air, but the excellent research conditions at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (MPI-MP). Sabeeha Merchant, professor for biochemistry at UCLA, California, and recently elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, received a Research Award from the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which carries a value of €60,000. During her sabbatical in Germany, she wants to pursue projects in cooperation with research groups of the MPI-MP.

Prof. Dr. Sabeeha Merchant investigates how plants deal with a shortage in essential mineral nutrients and how algae can be used for biodiesel production.

Prof. Dr. Sabeeha Merchant investigates how plants deal with a
shortage in essential mineral nutrients and how algae can be used for biodiesel production.

“When it comes to plant research, Germany simply has more to offer than the US, where everything is focused on biomedical research,” Merchant explains when asked about her motivation to spend her sabbatical at the University of Potsdam. “Both the investments that go into research as well as the quality of the results are outstanding.”

Her host at the MPI‑MP is Prof. Dr. Ralph Bock, whose department focuses on understanding green chloroplasts, which plants rely on for photosynthesis, on a systems-level basis. Cells that contain chloroplasts have an exclusive repertoire of more than 600 genes, most of them with unknown functions. By way of comparative genome analysis, the scientists want to elucidate their purpose.

Among plant scientists, Merchant is especially well known for her work on metalloproteins. Her favorite model organism is the single-celled algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. For more than 20 years now, her group has worked on the question of how organisms can survive under conditions where essential metals like zinc, copper, iron or manganese are scarce.

Together with Chlamy-scientists at the MPI-MP, Merchant wants to search for changes in the DNA transcripts, the cells’ protein composition, and the metabolism of the tiny single cell algae. She is especially interested in finding out why certain Chlamydomonas strains produce less starch and more oily substances that can serve as precursor molecules for biodiesel. Finding the molecular switch for the altered metabolic processes could be the first step towards a more efficient biodiesel production.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables more than 2,000 researchers from all over the world to spend time researching in Germany. The Foundation maintains a network of well over 25,000 Humboldtians from all disciplines in more than 130 countries worldwide – including 48 Nobel Prize winners.