Detlef Weigel
Encyclopedia
Detlef Weigel
(* 1961 in Lower Saxony
, Germany
) is a German American scientist working at the interface of developmental and evolutionary biology.
and chemistry
at the universities of Bielefeld
and Cologne
. In 1986, he graduated with a Diploma
in biology
for this thesis on Drosophila
neurogenesis
with the late José Campos-Ortega. In 1988, he moved to the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
in Tübingen
. During his PhD work with Herbert Jäckle, he discovered the founding member of an important class of transcription factors, the Forkhead/FOX
proteins. In 1988, he graduated with a PhD (summa cum laude) from the Eberhard-Karls-Universität.
Weigel began to work with plants during his postdoctoral research with Elliot M. Meyerowitz at Caltech
, where he cloned the floral regulator LEAFY
from Arabidopsis thaliana
. From 1993 to 2002, he was an Assistant and then Associate Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
in La Jolla. In 2002, he accepted an appointment as Scientific Member and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
, where he founded the Department for Molecular Biology
. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute and the University of Tübingen.
gene from Arabidopsis thaliana
to aspen
trees was sufficient to reduce the time to flowering from years to months. Weigel and his team isolated the FT gene, which was later found to be an important component of the mobile signal inducing flowering. New genetic tools developed by his group led to the discovery of the first microRNA mutant in plants.
Through his study of factors that control the onset of flowering, a quintessential adaptive trait, Weigel became interested in more general questions of evolution
. Apart from work on genetic variation in environment-dependent developmental processes, his group is known for the generation of extensive genomic resources, such as the first haplotype map for a non-mammalian species. To further exploit and advance the understanding of genetic variation, Weigel and colleagues initiated the 1001 Genomes project for Arabidopsis thaliana
. Related to this is a new area of interest, in reproductive isolation
. In collaboration with Jeffery Dangl
, his group discovered that genetic barriers in plants are often associated with autoimmunity
. In work led by former postdoc Kirsten Bomblies
, now an Assistant Professor at Harvard, they could show that in certain hybrid offspring, specific gene products contributed by one of the parents may be inappropriately recognized as foreign and pathogenic, and thus trigger pervasive cell death throughout the plant.
Weigel
-Weigel:*Andreas Weigel, German politician and member of the Bundestag*Christian Ehrenfried Weigel, German scientist*Christoph Weigel the Elder , German engraver, art dealer and publisher*David Weigel, American journalist and political commentator...
(* 1961 in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) is a German American scientist working at the interface of developmental and evolutionary biology.
Scientific career
Weigel was an undergraduate in biologyBiology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
and chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
at the universities of Bielefeld
Bielefeld
Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...
and Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. In 1986, he graduated with a Diploma
Diploma
A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...
in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
for this thesis on Drosophila
Drosophila
Drosophila is a genus of small flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "fruit flies" or more appropriately pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit...
neurogenesis
Neurogenesis
Neurogenesis is the process by which neurons are generated from neural stem and progenitor cells. Most active during pre-natal development, neurogenesis is responsible for populating the growing brain with neurons. Recently neurogenesis was shown to continue in several small parts of the brain of...
with the late José Campos-Ortega. In 1988, he moved to the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
The Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology is located in Tübingen, Germany. The main topics of scientific research conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying spatial information within the embryo, communication between cells...
in Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
. During his PhD work with Herbert Jäckle, he discovered the founding member of an important class of transcription factors, the Forkhead/FOX
FOX proteins
FOX proteins are a family of transcription factors that play important roles in regulating the expression of genes involved in cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, and longevity...
proteins. In 1988, he graduated with a PhD (summa cum laude) from the Eberhard-Karls-Universität.
Weigel began to work with plants during his postdoctoral research with Elliot M. Meyerowitz at Caltech
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, where he cloned the floral regulator LEAFY
Leafy
LEAFY is a plant gene that causes groups of undifferentiated cells called meristems to develop into flowers instead of shoots....
from Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant native to Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa. A spring annual with a relatively short life cycle, arabidopsis is popular as a model organism in plant biology and genetics...
. From 1993 to 2002, he was an Assistant and then Associate Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a premier independent, non-profit, scientific research institute located in La Jolla, California. It was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine; among the founding consultants were Jacob Bronowski and Francis Crick. Building...
in La Jolla. In 2002, he accepted an appointment as Scientific Member and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
The Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology is located in Tübingen, Germany. The main topics of scientific research conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying spatial information within the embryo, communication between cells...
, where he founded the Department for Molecular Biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute and the University of Tübingen.
Scientific Work
During the 1990s, Weigel mostly studied the development of individual flowers and how the onset of flowering is regulated. His group made important discoveries in both areas. Together with Ove Nilsson, he demonstrated that transfer of the LEAFYLeafy
LEAFY is a plant gene that causes groups of undifferentiated cells called meristems to develop into flowers instead of shoots....
gene from Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant native to Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa. A spring annual with a relatively short life cycle, arabidopsis is popular as a model organism in plant biology and genetics...
to aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...
trees was sufficient to reduce the time to flowering from years to months. Weigel and his team isolated the FT gene, which was later found to be an important component of the mobile signal inducing flowering. New genetic tools developed by his group led to the discovery of the first microRNA mutant in plants.
Through his study of factors that control the onset of flowering, a quintessential adaptive trait, Weigel became interested in more general questions of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. Apart from work on genetic variation in environment-dependent developmental processes, his group is known for the generation of extensive genomic resources, such as the first haplotype map for a non-mammalian species. To further exploit and advance the understanding of genetic variation, Weigel and colleagues initiated the 1001 Genomes project for Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant native to Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa. A spring annual with a relatively short life cycle, arabidopsis is popular as a model organism in plant biology and genetics...
. Related to this is a new area of interest, in reproductive isolation
Reproductive isolation
The mechanisms of reproductive isolation or hybridization barriers are a collection of mechanisms, behaviors and physiological processes that prevent the members of two different species that cross or mate from producing offspring, or which ensure that any offspring that may be produced is not...
. In collaboration with Jeffery Dangl
Jeffery Dangl
Jeffery L. "Jeff" Dangl is an American biologist. He is currently John N. Couch Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dangl earned his BAS of Biological Sciences and Modern Literature, MS of Biological Sciences, and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University...
, his group discovered that genetic barriers in plants are often associated with autoimmunity
Autoimmunity
Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts as self, which allows an immune response against its own cells and tissues. Any disease that results from such an aberrant immune response is termed an autoimmune disease...
. In work led by former postdoc Kirsten Bomblies
Kirsten Bomblies
Kirsten Bomblies is a biological researcher. She was born in 1973 in Germany and grew up in Castle Rock, CO. She received a BA in Biochemistry and Biology from The University of Pennsylvania in 1996. Her research plumbs the genetic, biophysical and other processes that may give rise to new species....
, now an Assistant Professor at Harvard, they could show that in certain hybrid offspring, specific gene products contributed by one of the parents may be inappropriately recognized as foreign and pathogenic, and thus trigger pervasive cell death throughout the plant.
Honors and awards
- 1989 Dieter Rampacher Award of the Max Planck SocietyMax Planck SocietyThe Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes publicly funded by the federal and the 16 state governments of Germany....
- 1994 Young Investigator Award of the National Science FoundationNational Science FoundationThe National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
- 2001 Charles Albert Shull Award of the American Society of Plant BiologistsAmerican Society of Plant BiologistsThe American Society of Plant Biologists is a professional society devoted to the advancement of the plant sciences. It was founded in 1924 as the American Society of Plant Physiologists and renamed in 2001...
- 2003 Member of the European Molecular Biology OrganizationEuropean Molecular Biology OrganizationEMBO stands for excellence in the life sciences. The EMBO mission is to enable the best science by supporting talented researchers, stimulating scientific exchange and advancing policies for a world-class European research environment....
(EMBO) - 2007 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz PrizeGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz PrizeThe Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is a research prize awarded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft every year since 1985 to scientists working in Germany. This highest German research prize consists of a research grant of 2.5 million euro, to be used within seven years...
of the Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftDeutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftThe Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...
(DFG) - 2008 Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
- 2009 Member of the US National Academy of Sciences
- 2010 Otto Bayer Award of the Bayer Foundations
- 2010 Foreign Member of the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
of London
External links
- http://www.weigelworld.org/
- http://1001genomes.org