Our research and vision

Our research focuses on the molecular mechanisms and regulation of transmembrane transporters in plants, with particular emphasis on proton-driven transport of phytohormones, sugars, and related metabolites. These transport processes are essential for coordinating growth, development, and adaptation to environmental cues.

Plants rely on precise spatial and temporal distributions of both sugars and phytohormones to react to the environment. While both the roles of sugars in basic plant metabolism and roles of hormone synthesis and perception are relatively well studied, transport across cellular membranes remains a major knowledge gap. Specialized membrane transporters are required for both export and import of sugars and phytohormones, and large, diverse transporter families often act redundantly or in combination, making these systems inherently complex.

Our group combines structural biology, biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology, and plant physiology to uncover how transporters function at the molecular level, how their activity is regulated, and how transport properties translate into plant phenotypes. By resolving transporter structures and linking them to functional measurements, we aim to establish general principles for substrate recognition, energy coupling, and regulation.

We are a core part of the DNRF Center of Excellence Plant-PATH, which investigates phytohormone transport as a central determinant of plant developmental plasticity. Within Plant-PATH, we focus on transport systems controlling the distribution of auxin, cytokinin, abscisic acid, and gibberellic acid, connecting molecular mechanisms of transport to whole-plant responses.

The group is based at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Aarhus University, and consists of an international team with diverse scientific backgrounds. We are always looking for postdocs, PhD students and Master students. Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Bjørn Panyella Pedersen.