Stéphane Hacquard

Stéphane Hacquard is a Research Group Leader in the Department of Plant Microbe Interactions at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany. His research focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms that underlie the structure and functions of multi-kingdom microbial consortia colonizing plant roots.

Hacquard leads the Multitrophic Plant-Microbe Interactions group, where his team combines microbial community profiling data from natural A. thaliana populations with reference microbial culture collections and gnotobiotic plant systems to dissect how both host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions impact microbial community structure and plant health.

His research interests include:

• Plant-microbe interactions and communication
• Root microbiota composition and function
• Microbial community ecology in plant systems
• Metabolomics of plant-microbe systems
• Synthetic microbial communities
• Plant immunity and microbiome engineering

Hacquard's recent work has revealed fascinating connections between root microbiota composition belowground and aboveground leaf development, leading to his ERC Consolidator Grant project MICROBIOSIS in 2023. His team recently developed an innovative system called MetaFlowTrain for studying metabolic communication in microbial communities.

His scientific achievements have been recognized with prestigious awards:

• ERC Consolidator Grant (MICROBIOSIS project, 2023)
• ERC Starting Grant (MICRORULES project)

Hacquard's research is supported by multiple funding sources including the ERC StG MICRORULES, the ERC CoG MICROBIOSIS, the DFG priority program DECRyPT, as well as CEPLAS and the Max Planck Society. His lab employs cutting-edge techniques including metabolome, microbiome and grafting techniques, genetic engineering methods, and advanced gnotobiotic plant growth systems.

The Multitrophic Plant-Microbe Interactions group maintains strong collaborations across multiple institutions and has established important resources including reference microbial culture collections and extensive microbial genome data that serve as key resources for identifying genetic determinants of microbial adaptation to plant roots.