Meike Burow

Meike Burow serves as Professor in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences within the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark. Her research group operates under the Section for Plant Glycobiology, focusing on metabolic and regulatory networks in plant systems.

Her educational background includes a Dipl. Biol. with excellence from the University of Hannover (2001) and a Dr. rer. nat. summa cum laude from Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena (2008). Prior academic positions include Associate Professor at UCPH (2011-2020), Postdoc/Assistant Professor in Plant Biology and Biotechnology (2008-2011), and research positions in Germany.

Professor Burow's research centers on plant metabolic networks, particularly investigating how plants integrate internal and external signals through transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational regulation. Her work primarily utilizes Arabidopsis thaliana and glucosinolates as model systems to study specialized metabolism dynamics. Key research areas include transcription factor networks (particularly R2R3 MYB factors), metabolite sensing, RNA-mediated regulation, and protein-protein interactions in metabolic channeling.

Her recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate strong focus on plant defense mechanisms, glucosinolate metabolism, plant-microbe interactions, and translational applications in horticulture. The research spans molecular genetics, ecological interactions, and agricultural applications, with particular emphasis on Brassicaceae species and their specialized metabolites.

As an educator, she serves as Head of Studies for the BSc Biotechnology program and teaches courses including Introduction to Biotechnology, Experimental Molecular Biology, and Big Data in Biotechnology at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Her outreach activities include public engagement events like Kulturnat in 2008-2009 focused on plant biotechnology.

Her laboratory investigates the complex regulatory networks controlling plant specialized metabolism, with particular attention to how environmental cues modulate metabolic investments in growth versus defense. Current work integrates molecular techniques with systems biology approaches to understand metabolic plasticity in changing environments.