wolfram.weckwerth@univie.ac.at

Professor of Molecular Systems Biology

Director of the Vienna Metabolomics Center (VIME), University of Vienna

Academic Career & Positions (selection)

• Since 2025 Head of Research Platform AIPN – Artificial intelligence powered personalized nutrition for disease prevention and well-being, University of Vienna, Austria
• Since 2023 President of the Austrian Society of Plant Biology (ATSPB)
• 2022-2024: Head of the Department Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, University of Vienna, Austria.
• 2013-2022: Head of Large Instrument Facility of Mass spectrometry in Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Austria
• 2013-2019: Head of the Department Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, University of Vienna, Austria.
• Since 2015: Director of the Vienna Metabolomics Center (VIME).
• 2008-2013: Full Professor and Head of Department Molecular Systems Biology, University of Vienna, Austria.
• 2000–2008: Group Leader for "Integrative Proteomics and Metabolomics", Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
• 1998: PhD in Biology/Biochemistry, Technical University of Berlin, Germany.

Scientific Contribution: Panomics, Green Systems Biology & The Holobiont

Wolfram Weckwerth is a pioneering researcher in Systems Biology, Metabolomics and Panomics, noted for integrating molecular high‑throughput analyses (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and metabolic modelling) with studies of ecological resilience. A defining milestone in the field was his formal conceptualization of Green Systems Biology in the 2011 publication "Green Systems Biology: From single genomes, proteomes and metabolomes to ecosystems research and biotechnology". This work moved the discipline beyond reductionist gene analysis toward a holistic understanding of plants as dynamic components of complex ecosystems. Building on this foundation, his current research advances the Holobiont concept as a new nexus in plant breeding, viewing the plant and its microbiome as a single functional unit and leveraging chemical signaling between roots, soil microbes and soil function to enhance sustainability of agroecosystems, plant nutrient efficiency, productivity and stress resilience in a severely changing climate.

Global Food Security & CGIAR Collaborations

His research has substantial practical implications for global food security in the era of anthropogenic climate change. A central element of this contribution is the concept of “PANOMICS meets Germplasm.” which was coined by him and colleagues. This concept frames the systematic integration of multi‑omics data and genomic prediction with global germplasm collections as a new paradigm for identifying climate‑adaptive traits. In this framework Weckwerth maintains extensive collaborations within the CGIAR network, most notably with ICRISAT (India) and CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico). A cornerstone of this work is the study of the Wheat Holobiont, specifically focusing on Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI). By identifying wheat genotypes that naturally secrete compounds to suppress soil nitrification, his research aims to reduce nitrogen leaching and greenhouse gas emissions, thereby creating more climate-resilient and nitrogen-efficient cropping systems. This work is extended to Pearl Millet, other cereal crops and Chickpea underscoring the impact on securing food production in the Global South.

Planetary Health & Human Health

Weckwerth’s research extends to the intersection of Planetary Health and Human Health. He investigates how plant-based diets affect human physiology. A specialized area of his current interest is the effect of natural products from plant-based diets on the human immune system. By analyzing how plant-derived compounds modulate inflammatory responses and immune functions, his work links sustainable agricultural practices with the prevention of diseases, advocating for a food system that supports both environmental stability, public and individual health. The recently funded research platform AIPN – Artificial intelligence powered personalized nutrition for disease prevention and well-being at the University of Vienna follows this paradigm.

Bibliometric Indices & Global Recognition

Weckwerth’s scientific impact is documented by high-ranking metrics that place him among the internationally highly cited researchers in plant and life sciences:

• Total Citations (March 2026 Google Scholar): >33,500
• h-index: 89 (top 1% of the most frequently cited scientists globally).
• i10-index: 267

Theoretical & Philosophical Contributions

Beyond empirical data, Weckwerth is a vital theorist of 21st-century biology. Through his leadership in the Philosophical-Biological Seminar at the University of Vienna, he contributes to the discourse on System Theory, emergence, and self-organization. He advocates for a move beyond reductionism, arguing that biological complexity requires a theoretical framework that accounts for the non-linear interactions of the "whole", thus establishing a synthesis between high-technology research and the conceptual philosophy of life. This interdisciplinary approach ensures that high-throughput "OMICS" data is interpreted within a robust theoretical framework, addressing the complex interactions of life from the molecular level to the ecosystem.

l.degara@unicampus.it

Full Professor of Plant Physiology Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome (UCBM)
Deputy Vice Chancellor

Relevant Scientific Professional Services:

2007-2009 Elected President of the Plant Oxygen Group of the Society for Free Radical Research – Europe

2008–2013 Member of the Executive Committee of the Italian Society of Plant Biology

2008-2010 Member of the Grants & Awards Committee of the Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology (FESPB).

2012–2019 Member of the Executive Committee of the FESPB as Chair of the Grants & Awards Committee

2014 Member of the Plant Biology Panel for the evaluation of projects on Plant Biology in Space presented for founding by NASA, ESA, JAXA

2015-2017 President of the Evaluation Committee of the Research Centers controlled by Italian Ministry of Agriculture

2017-2021 Member of the Scientific Committee or the Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (CREA)

2019 Elected Vice-president for the year 20-21and President for the years 22-23 of the Italian Society of Plant Biology

2019- Member of the Scientific Council of the Department of Biology, Agriculture and Food Sciences (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche)

2020-Elected Secretary General of the FESPB

Scientific interests:

Redox signaling in plant, plant-environment interaction, plant bio-active molecules.

De Gara, Laura - Author details - Scopus

christian.zoerb@uni-hohenheim.de - treasurer@fespb.org

Research interests: Crop Plants, Abiotic Stress Physiology, Viticulture, Wheat, Climate Change, Quality Aspects, Plant Nutrition

h-index Jan 2021, 34

Please see list of more than 100 peer reviewed articles at Goolge Scholar.

Since 2014 – Professor of Quality of Plant Products and Viticulture, Univ. of Hohenheim
2012–2014 – Professor of General and Applied Botany, Univ. of Leipzig, Institute of Biology
2012–2013 – Senior Scientific Fellow, School of Biology, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, UK
2007–2012 – Research Associate, Univ. of Kiel, Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science
2005–2007 – Research Associate, Bundesanstalt für Ernährung und Lebensmittel, Detmold
1999–2007 – PostDoc experience in several labs including UK, USA and Germany
Habilitation, Justus Liebig Univ. Giessen, Venia legendi in Plant Nutrition
1998 – Dr. rer. nat. (PhD), Justus Liebig Univ. Giessen, Faculty of Biology
1988 – Diploma in Biology (Plant Science), Justus Liebig Univ. Giessen

Head of the Department of Plant Biotechnology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University in Cracow

Research interests: DNA replication and repair, plant  biotechnology, application od DNA aptamers

Research stays abroad

2015 UNAM, Mexico

2008 Open Laboratories of Advanced Bioscience and Biotechnology (OLABB)  Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Japan

2008 University of Salento, Di.S.Te.B.A., Lecce, Italy

2007 Botanisches Institut und Botanischer Garten, Der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany

2005 Dipartimento di Biologia delle Piante Agrarie, Università di Pisa, Italia

2003 August Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN USA

2001 May Institute of Molecular and Structural Biology, Aarhus University, Denmark

1999 Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Academic degrees

2018 DSc., Natural Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology

2007 PhD. in Biology , Jagiellonian University, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and   Biotechnology

2001 MSc. in Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Faulty of Biology and Earth Sciences

gyorgyey.janos@brc.hu

János Györgyey is the president of the Hungarian Plant Biology Society since 2006, national representative since 2012. He have got his diploma at the University of Szeged as biologist in 1985. He obtained Ph.D. at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1996 for his thesis entitled "Gene expression changes during hormone activated cell division and somatic embryogenesis in alfalfa". He began his research carrier in the same year in the Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary where he is senior researcher now and principal investigator of the research unit working on Brachypodium distachyon. His main interests are plant molecular biology, developmental genetics, and abiotic stress physiology. With his colleagues, currently they are studying root development of Brachypodium focusing on LOB-domain transcription factor family, the effects of limiting water supply on root architecture, as well as the involvement of circadian clock in drought stress adaptation in roots. His publications and citation data can be find in the Hungarian Scientific Bibliography database (https://m2.mtmt.hu/gui2/?type=authors&mode=browse&sel=10002548&view=pubTable).