Marcus Heisler

Associate Professor Marcus Heisler is a developmental biologist at the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, where he leads the Heisler Lab focused on plant developmental patterning. He is also a member of the Sydney Institute of Agriculture and has established an international reputation for his work on plant morphogenesis, particularly in understanding how plant organs are positioned and shaped.

Dr. Heisler completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne, earned his PhD at Monash University studying flower development, and conducted postdoctoral research at Caltech with Elliot Meyerowitz. He served as a Senior Research Associate at Caltech before becoming the first Australian group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. He returned to Australia in 2017 to join the University of Sydney as an Associate Professor. During his time at EMBL, he was awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) starting grant worth 1.5M Euros over five years.

His research focuses on developmental patterning in plants, particularly how plant organs such as leaves and floral structures are positioned and shaped. His lab emphasizes high-resolution imaging to study cellular and tissue-level processes combined with fine-scale perturbation techniques. Current research centers on understanding and re-engineering the floral ground plan through the RESYDE project, which in 2024 received a $17M ERC Synergy grant with collaborators in Germany, the UK, and Sweden. His work spans molecular biology, genetics, and computational approaches to plant development.

Dr. Heisler's recent publications (2024-2017) show consistent focus on plant developmental mechanisms, with particular emphasis on cell polarity, auxin transport, gene regulatory networks, and organ positioning. His research integrates live imaging, molecular perturbation, and quantitative analysis to understand fundamental mechanisms of plant morphogenesis across multiple scales from cellular to tissue levels.

• European Research Council (ERC) starting grant (1.5M Euros)
• ERC Synergy grant ($17M over six years) for the RESYDE project

Dr. Heisler currently leads the Heisler Lab which conducts research on cell-cell signaling in cell polarity and dorsoventral boundaries in plant morphogenesis. He collaborates extensively with international researchers and has secured multiple grants including ARC Discovery Projects and LIEF funding. The lab maintains state-of-the-art facilities for live imaging of plant development and molecular perturbation studies, with a focus on understanding the fundamental mechanisms that govern plant form and structure.