SLU news
Claudia Köhler elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Published: 22 December 2017
Claudia Köhler, professor at SLU's Department of Plant Biology in Uppsala, is one of nine new members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. She is elected as a foreign member of the class for biosciences.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences consists of approximately 450 Swedish and 175 foreign members, who are organised in ten subject categories, termed classes. Together they represent the country's foremost expertise in the sciences. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental organisation which defines its function as promoting the sciences and strengthening their influence in society.
Claudia Köhler's research concerns genetic and epigenetic mechanisms governing seed development and plant speciation. Her research group focuses on the endosperm, the tissue that supports embryo growth and is functionally analogous to the placenta in mammals. They decipher the role of the endosperm in controlling seed growth, regulating embryo development, as well as establishing barriers towards interspecies and interploidy hybridizations. Their main model is Arabidopsis thaliana, but they work as well on close relatives like Capsella, Arabidopsis lyrata, and Arabidopsis arenosa. While their main focus is on basic research questions, they also strive to translate their research into practical applications.
Claudia Köhler is a professor of molecular plant cell biology at Uppsala BioCenter at SLU since October 2010, and before that she worked in Zurich, Switzerland. This spring, Claudia Köhler was awarded the Göran Gustafsson Prize, one of the most sought after and prestigious scientific prizes among younger researchers in Sweden. Later this year she was elected as a new member of The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), a network that aims to promote excellence in the life sciences.
News article from the Academy
http://www.kva.se/en/nyheter/nio-nya-ledamoter-invalda-i-akademien
More information