Professor Ueli Grossniklaus
Principal Investigator
Professor Ueli Grossniklaus is the Group Leader and Director of the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at The University of Zurich. He is a developmental geneticist interested in elucidating the genetic and molecular basis of plant reproduction. He is an internationally renowned expert on signaling during fertilisation and epigenetic aspects of seed development but has also worked on apomixis for over 25 years. In his research, he employs natural apomicts as well as the genetic models maize and Arabidopsis to develop tools for the engineering of apomixis, efforts that resulted in a proof-of-concept for producing clonal seeds in maize.
Ramona Hartmann
Research Technician
Ramona Hartmann is a technical assistant who has worked in chemical process and analytical method development. She obtained a BSc degree in Bioanalytics and Cell Biology from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland, and worked on the molecular basis of interspecific cross-incompatibility for her BSc thesis. She joined the University of Zurich to support the Hy-Gain team in September 2021.
Hy-Gain for smallholders
High-yielding, sorghum and cowpea seed