Lab Members
Prof. Dr. Gronnier | Tenure-Track Professor for Plant Cell Biology and Principal Investigator
julien.gronnier@tum.de / +49 8161 71-2699
During his doctoral thesis, as a French Ministry of Higher Education and Research doctoral fellow, Julien investigated the organization and dynamics of plasma membrane during viral infection, with Véronique Germain and Sébastien Mongrand, at the Laboratoire de Biogenèse Membranaire (LBM, CNRS, University of Bordeaux). As an EMBO postdoctoral fellow, Julien embraced the world of plant receptor kinases in the group of Cyril Zipfel (TSL, Norwich; University of Zürich), before starting an independent research group at the Zentrum für Molekularbiologie der Pflanzen (ZMBP, Tübingen) and subsequently joining the TUM School of Life Sciences as tenure-track professor for Plant Cell Biology.
Sonja Denk | Team Assistant
sonja.denk@tum.de / +49 8161 71-5426
After her studies in Agribusiness at the Technical University of Munich, Sonja notably developed her professional career in marketing communications as a project manage. Most fortunately for us, the call from TUM was too strong to resist, and we are delighted that Sonja has returned to our University as Team Assistant for Plant Cell Biology and for Urban Productive Ecosystems.
Vaishali Gabani | Research Assistant
vaishali.gabani@tum.de
Vaishali studied microbiology and molecular biotechnology at Veer Narmad South Gujarat University and Köthen University of Applied Sciences, respectively. After investigating the role of the hormone jasmonic acid in tomato fruit development at the Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzenbiochemie in Halle and optimizing experimental procedures at the Crop Science division of Bayer AG in Monheim, Vaishali joined our group as research assistant in early 2025.
Kaltra Xhelilaj | Doctoral Candidate — Cell Signaling and Plant Development
kaltra.xhelilaj@tum.de
As part of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master program, Kaltra studied plant transcriptional reprogramming in response to potato virus A infection at the University of Helsinki. Kaltra is a founding member of our group which she joined for her doctoral studies in 2021. Rapidly, Kaltra developed a genuine fascination for the role of hydrogen ions as messenger molecules regulating a plethora of molecular events, including receptor kinase-mediated signaling, at the cell surface
(Xhelilaj et al., 2025; Xhelilaj et al., 2025).
Michelle von Arx | Doctoral Candidate — Computational Biology and Receptor Kinase Signaling
michelle.vonarx@tum.de
During her BSc studies in the group of Cyril Zipfel Michelle studied how the receptor kinase FERONIA regulates brassinosteroid signaling. As part of her MSc at the University of Zurich, Michelle joined our group at the ZMBP (Tübingen) for her thesis to investigate the role of REMORIN proteins in plant responses to salt (von Arx et al., 2025). Michelle is leveraging her impassion for computational biology to develop long-term single molecule imaging and analysis solutions (von Arx et al., 2024) and to understand how of receptor kinases meet within the plasma membrane (von Arx et al., 2026).
Dr. Marie-Dominique Jolivet | Postdoctoral Researcher — Membrane Biology and Plant Immunity
marie-dominique.jolivet@tum.de
During her doctoral studies at the Laboratoire de biogenèse membranaire (CNRS, Bordeaux) with Véronique Germain and Sébastien Mongrand, as a French Ministry of Higher Education and Research doctoral fellow, Marie-Dominique investigated the plasma membrane events linked to the plant immune response against Potexviruses (Jolivet et al., 2025). Capitalizing on her expertise in membrane biology, Marie-Dominique investigates the roles of membranes in immunity (Jolivet et al., 2026), in particular how mechanosensitive channels sense membrane-active molecules to initiate immune signaling (Jolivet et al., 2026).
David Biermann | Doctoral Candidate — Plant Development and Evolution
david.biermann@tum.de
David joined the group for his MSc thesis during which he studied the molecular determinants linking cell wall status to the cell surface signaling events triggered by plant steroid hormones, brassinosteroids, in regulating cell shape (Biermann, von Arx et al., 2025). Along the way, David developed an interest in plant developmental biology and for the molecular innovation associated with complex plant body shapes, aspects he is now investigating through the prism of evolution as part of his doctoral studies.
Liyang Gao | Doctoral Candidate — Cell Biology and Stress Signaling
go54kuy@mytum.de
During her MSc thesis, Liyang studied the function and regulation of G proteins and H+-ATPases in plant growth and stress response in the laboratory of Rui Miao at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (Lin et al., 2024). Liyang obtained a CSC fellowship to investigate the function of putative membrane contact site tethers in stress signaling in our group.
Mariya Roussinova | Student Research Assistant
go52pif@mytum.de
Mariya studies biochemistry at the Technical University of Munich and moonlights as a scientist, enthusiastically engaging in various aspects of our research projects.