Sarah Assmann

Sarah Assmann is the Waller Professor of Biology at Pennsylvania State University, affiliated with the IEE Research Themes in Climate and Natural Systems. Her research focuses on molecular and electrophysiological mechanisms of plant signal transduction, particularly in guard cells and responses to environmental stimuli like light, hormones, and abiotic stress. She leads the Assmann Lab in the Mueller Lab facility, contributing to interdisciplinary projects bridging plant biology, genomics, and computational modeling.

Her work spans topics such as stomatal physiology, heterotrimeric G protein signaling, RNA structure dynamics, and climate adaptation in plants. Notable contributions include the development of Oryza CLIMtools for rice genomic-environmental associations and studies on riboSNitches' roles in climate-driven plant adaptation. She has been recognized with the Masatoshi Nei Innovation Prize in Biology (2025) and collaborates with researchers like Réka Albert, advancing systems biology approaches to plant stress responses.

Her recent publications (2021–2025) highlight advancements in understanding G protein variants' agronomic impacts, RNA structural dynamics under stress, and computational modeling of signal transduction networks. Her research bridges fundamental biology with applications in crop improvement and climate resilience.