معرفی
Thomas Lahaye is a Professor in the Department of General Genetics at the ZMBP, University of Tübingen. His research focuses on plant-pathogen interactions, particularly understanding how microbial pathogens like Xanthomonas and Ralstonia solanacearum deploy effector proteins such as TALEs to manipulate host plants. Key areas include TALE-mediated transcriptional activation of susceptibility genes, development of resistant crop varieties, and application of TALEs as biotechnological tools. He leads a research group that has developed modular cloning toolkits for TALE assembly and plant genetic engineering.
Research interests span molecular mechanisms of plant disease, including bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia, and the use of TALEs for synthetic biology applications such as designer transcription factors and imaging tools. Collaborations explore TALE-based nucleases for genome editing and promoter engineering.
Publications highlight advancements in TALE DNA-binding specificity, engineering broad-spectrum resistance via promoter traps, and exploring effector functions in crop pathogens. His work bridges fundamental biology with applied strategies to combat plant diseases, emphasizing translational biotechnology solutions.
