Short biography - André Kuhn

André Kuhn started his scientific career by pursuing his bachelor's and master's studies in, respectively, Biology and Plant Biotechnology at Wageningen University (WUR, NL). Early during his studies he got fascinated by the mechanism of signal integration in the context of plant development. After finishing his master thesis in the group of Prof Dolf Weijers (WUR, NL), André joined the team of Prof Lars Østergaard  at the John Innes Centre (Norwich, UK) for his PhD studies that focused on the molecular and biochemical characterization of an atypical auxin signaling pathway. He discovered direct interaction of the auxin molecule and an Auxin Response Factor called ETTIN. This interaction appears to be important in gynoecium development. For his postdoc, André re-joined the Weijers team (WUR, NL). He was able to secure funding in form of a NWO VENI grant to address the question of how plants translate auxin signals into fast cellular responses. He discovered a rapid phosphorylation-based response pathway to the plant hormone auxin and was able to link it to RAF-like kinases. He was able to show that this pathway is evolutionary conserved between land plants and algae suggesting an even deeper evolutionary origin.