Anja Hörger

Dr. Anja Hörger serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environment & Biodiversity at the Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences, University of Salzburg, Austria, where she has maintained her position since October 2014. Her academic journey includes a PhD in Biology (Dr. rer. nat.) from LMU Munich (2011) and a Master of Science in Biology from the same institution (2007).

Her research program focuses on understanding the genetic, evolutionary, and ecological mechanisms driving plant adaptation to both biotic and abiotic environmental factors. Specifically, Dr. Hörger investigates how plant immune systems evolve in response to changing pathogen populations (viruses, bacteria, fungi) and how environmental stressors such as salt, drought, and metalliferous soils impact these evolutionary processes. Her work has significant implications for understanding climate change effects on species persistence, particularly for plants in fragmented or anthropogenically influenced habitats.

Dr. Hörger's laboratory employs an interdisciplinary approach that integrates population genetics/genomics, transcriptomics, experimental evolution, biochemical assays, and plant-microbial bioassays. This methodological diversity allows for comprehensive investigation of plant-pathogen interactions and provides students with training across molecular, biochemical, computational, and ecological techniques.

• Current main project: Role of heavy metals in plant disease resistance and interplay between abiotic stress adaptation and pathogen resistance
• Additional research: Impact of coevolution with pathogens on plant genome evolution using wild tomato species as model systems

Dr. Hörger contributes to the scientific community as a reviewer for prominent journals including Molecular Biology and Evolution, BMC Evolutionary Biology, Flora, Tree Genetics and Genomes, and Plant Molecular Biology Reporter. Her research has been supported by prestigious funding mechanisms including the Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship.