Professor Uta Paszkowski

  • • Russell R Geiger Professor of Crop Science
  • • Director of the Crop Science Centre
  • • Head of Cereal Symbiosis
Available to supervise doctoral students
Professor Uta Paszkowski

Contact

Connect

About

Uta Paszkowski is the Russel G Geiger Chair for Crop Science; Director of the Crop Science Centre and head of the Cereal Symbiosis group at the Crop Science Centre as part of at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge.

Previous Positions

2019 to present - Professor - University of Cambridge, England

2017 to 2019 - Reader - University of Cambridge, England

2012 to 2017 - Lecturer - University of Cambridge, England

2006 to 2012 - Assistant Professor - University of Lausanne, Switzerland

2003 to 2006 - Junior Group Leader - University of Geneva, Switzerland

2000 to 2003 - Staff Scientist - Syngenta Global AG, Switzerland

Qualifications

1993 - PhD - ETH Zürich, Switzerland

1989 - Diplom - University Cologne, Germany

-

Awards & Fellowships

2026 - World Food Prize Foundation, USA

2026 - Fellow - Royal Society, UK

2025 - International Member - National Academy of Sciences, USA

2023 - Member - German National Academy “Leopoldina”

2020 - Member - European Molecular Biology Organization

Research

Research Group 

Cereal Symbiosis based at the Crop Science Centre

Research Overview

The mutually beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is the most widespread association between roots of terrestrial plants and fungi of the Glomeromycota. The association receives increasing scientific attention because of the nutritional benefit it confers to plants, its ubiquitous occurrence among contemporary plant species and, as a result of its evolutionary antiquity, an ancestral relationship to other plant interactions. Our research focuses on molecular mechanisms underlying the formation and functioning of AM symbioses in rice and maize. It aims at developing knowledge to optimize the incorporation of the AM-symbiosis into sustainable yet modern agricultural practices.

School of Biological Sciences Theme Affiliations

Infection and Immunity

Publications

Selected publications

Elevated CO2 reinforces PT11-dependent symbiotic phosphate uptake to reprogram root nutrient acquisition in rice 1 September 2026 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Chai Hao Chiu, Mette Grønlund, Thomas Christian de Bang, Stephanie Watts-Williams, Fang Song, Krystyna Anna Kelly, Iver Jakobsen & Uta Paszkowski Spatiotemporal regulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis at cellular resolution 11 May 2026 The Plant Cell Tania Chancellor, Gabriel Ferreras-Garrucho, Garo Z Akmakjian, Héctor Montero, Sarah Bowden, Matthew S Hope, Emma Wallington, Samik Bhattacharya, Christian Korfhage, Julia Bailey-Serres & Uta Paszkowski Symbiotic phosphate transporter dynamics in rice expose functional plasticity of the arbuscules 22 April 2026 Nature Communications Jennifer McGaley, Martina Orvošová, Ben Schneider, Chai Hao Chiu, Ronelle Roth, Sarah Bowden, Matthew S Hope, Jayne L Davis, Warda Khalif, Emma J Wallington & Uta Paszkowski Integrating single-cell omic techniques to resolve the spatio-temporal complexity of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis 1 October 2025 Journal of Experimental Botany Gabriel Ferreras-Garrucho, Tania Chancellor & Uta Paszkowski Defining the pre-symbiotic transcriptional landscape of rice roots 29 September 2025 bioRxiv Gabriel Ferreras Garrucho, Uta Paszkowski & Chai Hao Chiu

Teaching and supervision

Available to supervise doctoral students

Undergraduate Natural Sciences Tripos Part 1A Physiology of Organisms

Undergraduate Natural Sciences Tripos Part 1B Plant and Microbial Sciences 

Undergraduate Natural Sciences Tripos Part II M2 Microbes: Genomes, Evolution and Lifestyles