Juliette de Meaux

Prof. Dr. Juliette de Meaux is a Principal Investigator at the Institute for Plant Sciences within the Cologne Biocenter at the University of Cologne. She has been affiliated with CEPLAS (Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences) since 2014 and is also a member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS). Her research group investigates molecular mechanisms of plant adaptation and evolution.

• Institution: University of Cologne
• Department: Institute for Plant Sciences
• Affiliations: CEPLAS since 2014, International Max Planck Research School

Professor de Meaux's research focuses on reconstructing the recent history of adaptive molecular variation in plant systems, particularly using Arabidopsis thaliana and its close relatives (A. lyrata and A. halleri) as well as Arabis nemorensis. Her work spans several key research areas including plant cis-regulatory variation and polygenic adaptation, multivariate evolution of plant traits, Arabis nemorensis genomics, and ecology of urban Arabidopsis thaliana populations. She employs approaches that combine experimental measures of functional variation with molecular and population-level analysis of selection signatures.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on evolutionary genomics, with particular attention to polygenic adaptation mechanisms, drought tolerance strategies, urban ecology of plant populations, and conservation genetics of endangered species. Her work often integrates computational approaches like Approximate Bayesian Computation with experimental molecular biology techniques.

• Long-term research on plant adaptation mechanisms
• Investigation of polygenic selection in natural populations
• Integration of ecological and molecular approaches
• Focus on urban environments and climate change impacts

Professor de Meaux actively supervises a diverse research group including postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and technical staff. She has mentored numerous students who have gone on to postdoctoral positions and research careers. She has secured significant research funding that has supported her group's work since at least 2013-2018 (as evidenced by archive references) and continuing through the present.

Her laboratory maintains several research platforms including a Plant Metabolism and Metabolomics Facility and an Imaging Platform, which support the group's work on plant performance optimization, plant microbiota networks, and theoretical plant biology.