Conserving our natural world through synthetic genomes
Postdoctoral researcher from Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology receives prestigious fellowship.
Dr. Daniel Dunkelmann, working at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Germany, has been awarded a Branco Weiss Fellowship, which is granted by ETH Zurich for outstanding postdoctoral researchers. He can now pursue his research for up to five years at an institute of his choice anywhere in the world.
After a rigorous selection process, seven exceptional young scientists have been selected to receive this year’s Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science. One of them is Dr. Daniel Dunkelmann, who will conduct his research at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
Dr. Daniel Dunkelmann’s research focuses on synthesizing plant genomes from scratch. Plants play a critical role in our food system and are essential for mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide. The emerging field of plant synthetic biology aims to enhance existing traits and develop new ones to address these challenges. Dr. Dunkelmann will create a synthetic chloroplast genome in a living plant. Developing methods to design and implement artificial chloroplast genomes, using genetic codes that differ from natural ones, opens avenues to enable the coexistence of highly engineered plants with the natural environment.
The Branco Weiss Fellowship provides postdoctoral scholars from a variety of disciplines, including the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and engineering, with the opportunity to pursue an independently developed research project. It is a requirement that the proposed project is not part of a larger research enterprise. This year’s fellows represent a wide range of research disciplines, including bioengineering, biological physics, cardiology, computer science, engineering, environmental science, microfluidics, neurobiology, neuroscience, and synthetic genomics. They come from Australia, Denmark, Germany, India, Switzerland, and the United States, and currently hold positions at research institutes and universities in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States.
The Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science was founded in 2002 to provide a platform for researchers in the natural and engineering sciences who want to expand their scientific work to include specific social and cultural issues and perspectives. The Fellowship was initiated and funded by the Swiss entrepreneur Dr. Branco Weiss, who died in 2010. It is hosted by ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich). To qualify for the prestigious award, candidates must have a PhD and a record of outstanding scientific achievement.