Most terrestial plants possess a bipartite body with one half growing above ground, the shoot part, and one half submerged into the soil, the root part. The latter has been less well studied and is general regarded as "the hidden half".

However, the importance of plant roots for our planet cannot be overstated. They provide numerous ecosystem services that support life on Earth, including soil stabilization, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and food production. Protecting and preserving healthy root systems is essential for maintaining the sustainability of our planet's ecosystems and ensuring the well-being of future generations.

Therefore our mission is to understand how plant roots grow and develop, how they branch out to colonize the soil and how they respond to environmental conditions. Central to our approach is the analysis of gene expression which represents a molecular readout of developmental processes and therefore provides insight into the genes and regulatory networks underlying root development.