In our research group, we study how plants adapt to environmental stresses, particularly to herbivory. We combine high-throughput sequencing approaches with experimental evolution, metabolic profiling, and genetic manipulation to elucidate the genetic, epigenetic, and physiological bases of plant adaptation using duckweeds as a model system. Furthermore, we use the acquired methods to transform duckweeds into a green biofactories to produce high-value metabolites in plants. Through these studies, we will improve our conceptual understanding of plant defense and explore potential industrial applications.

Meret Huber received her master’s degree in biology from the University of Zürich in 2011. She then moved to the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena for her PhD, in which she studied how plants defend their roots against herbivorous insects. After a short postdoctoral employment at the Max Planck Institute, she established a junior research group at the University of Münster to elucidate transgenerational stress memory in clonal plants. In 2022, she received funding from the DFG Emmy Noether Programme to study the epigenetic basis of transgenerational stress memory. In 2023, Meret Huber became a professor in plant evolutionary ecology at the University of Mainz. She also serves as a director of the botanical garden of the University of Mainz.

Martina obtained her B.A. in Communication Design from the University of Applied Sciences Mainz in 2017. She then worked at Jack Wolfskin and as a Yoga teacher. Following certification in commercial matters and Human Resources from Wifa Mainz business school in 2023, Martina pursued her current administrative role at the Johannes Gutenberg University.

Manuela worked at Böhringer Ingelheim after her training as TA until she took time off to raise her children.
In her following positon, she gained experience with a wide variety of responsibilities in the microbiology laboratory of a service laboratory for almost 25 years. Since June 2023, she has been supporting AG Huber as a TA.

Martin received his PhD from the University of Jena for his work at the Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (MPI-ICE, Prof. Ian Baldwin) on the role of growth and development-related phytohormones in plant-herbivore interactions in 2015. He continued working at the MPI-ICE until 2018, then moved to the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity in Münster, before moving to the Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution (IomE) in Mainz in 2022. He has extensive experience in chemical ecology and analytical chemistry, in particular the LC-MS based analysis of small metabolites, and he’s interested in studying the mechanisms and functions behind diverse plant interactions.

Amanda received her PhD in 2018 from the Federal University of Vicosa (Brazil) for her work on Plastid Genomics of several plant species. In 2021, she moved to the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology for her postdoctoral research granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, in which her research focused on Plastid Biotechnology for the development of a plant-based hyaluronic acid production platform. In April 2023, she worked as a Technology Development Specialist at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials where she studied the engineering of yeasts for biofuel production. In November 2023, she joined the Huber group for postdoctoral research focusing on the development of protocols to engineer the nuclear and plastid genomes of duckweed and their biotechnological applications.

Gopal Singh received his PhD in June, 2020 from CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, India for his work on NGS-assisted biosynthetic pathway elucidation of steviol glycosides (SGs), the diterpenoids commercially popular as low calorie natural sweeteners from Stevia rebaudiana. In January, 2021, he moved to Poland to worked as a Post-doctoral researcher at IBCH, PAS, Poznan where he worked in an NCN-funded project on interspecies metabolic engineering of Tryptophan-derived specialized metabolism for their function in plant immunity. Gopal joined the Huber lab in February 2025 to work on his DFG-funded project leveraging giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) as a potential photosynthetic chassis for sustainable production of valuable plant metabolites.

Alexandra joined the Huber group in October 2020. She is a biologist from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru, and received her M.Sc. degree in Evolutionary Biology from the Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chile. Alexandra is interested in explaining the role of non-genetic transgenerational inheritance in clonal evolution. She received her PhD in June 2025 at Huber lab.

Enrico is a Biotechnology Engineer graduated at the State University of São Paulo, Brazil, in 2022. In August 2023, he completed his a master’s degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Enrico started his Ph.D. in the Huber group in September 2023. Throughout his doctoral studies, he will investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza).

Ida is a member of Huber Lab since January 2025. She finished her master’s in biotechnology at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau in 2024. As a GenEvo associated PhD student she investigates the role of small RNAs in transgenerational plasticity in a clonal plant such as giant duckweed.

Samuel joined the Huber and Baumann labs in January 2025. He recieved his B.Sc from Manchester Metropolitan University in biology in 2023 and his MSc in 2024 from Queen Mary University of London. His thesis project aims to investigate both genetic and epigenetic mutation rates in the New Mexico whiptail lizard, Aspidoscelis neomexicanus, an asexually reproducing vertebrate. He will provide estimates of the frequency of epimutations, and investigate their potential for transgenerational inheritance, and their effects on gene expression. 

Sofie is a Biology student at Johannes Gutenberg University. In October 2024, she will join the Huber Lab to work on her Bachelor’s degree. Her project will focus on studying the non-genetic inheritance of stress responses in duckweed.

Vivianne joined the group in September 2024 to work on stably transforming duckweed to express the phenolamide defense pathway. She received her B.Sc. degree in Molecular Biology at the Saarland University and her interest focuses on Molecular Plant Biology.

Marieke is a Biology student at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and joined the group in December 2024. For her Master project, she is investigating how transgenerational plastic traits affect the fitness of the giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) and its aphid herbivore (Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae).

Sara is a Biology student at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. Starting in May 2025, she will join the Huber Lab to work on her Bachelor’s degree. Her project will focus on the regeneration of transformed Giant Duckweed.

Vladimir is a Biology student at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. Starting in October 2024, Vladimir will work in the Huber Lab on his Bachelor’s degree, with the subject of intergenerational plasticity in Giant Duckweed  Spirodela polyrhiza.

Celine is a Biology student at Johannes Gutenberg University. They started their Bachelor’s project at the Huber Lab in April 2025. Their research focuses on the correlation between intergenerational inheritance in duckweed and DNA methylation.

Philipp is a Molecular Biology student and a conservation photographer. He will start his Bachelor’s project at the Huber Research Group in February of 2025, where he plans to enhance TAG accumulation in duckweed to further sustainable biotechnological research.

Büsra is a Biology student at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Starting in May 2025, she joined the Huber Lab to pursue her Bachelor’s degree. Büsra explores the generations necessary to induce and retain transgenerational plasticity in clonally reproducing giant duckweeds.

If you are interested in joining the lab but there is no funded project available, please contact Prof. Meret Huber.

There are bachelor and master projects available to study plant-herbivore interactions, transgenerational stress responses and metabolic engineering.
Please send an e-mail to Prof. Meret Huber: meret.huber@uni-mainz.de

Currently no open positions.

Currently no open positions.

Currently no open positions.