Department of Biophysics and Morphogenesis of Plants

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Staff:

  • Head of the Department:
    • Professor Dorota Kwiatkowska
  • Academic Teachers:
    • Agata Burian, PhD, DSc
    • Jerzy Nakielski, PhD, DSc
    • Joanna Szymanowska-Pułka, PhD, DSc
    • Dorota Borowska-Wykręt, PhD
    • Joanna Elsner, PhD
    • Marcin Lipowczan, PhD
    • Anna Piekarska-Stachowiak, PhD
    • Magdalena Raczyńska-Szajgin, PhD
  • Technical Staff:
    • Anna Staroń, MSc
    • Jerzy Karczewski, MSc

Main field of research:

  • growth of plant organs – in vivo estimation and tensorial description;
  • analysis of plant cell patterns in situ (confocal microscopy);
  • computer modeling and visualization of cellular pattern development (tissue level, organ level – plant meristems);
  • mechanical properties of intact plant tissues (measurements with material testing machine, cell wall composition analyzed with Raman imagining techniques);
  • the role of cytoskeleton and cell wall in regulation of plant growth and morphogenesis;
  • hygroscopic movements of plant organs.

Unique resources of the Department:

  • universal material testing machine Synergie 100 (MTS), supported with TestWorks software, used for estimation of tensile and compressive strength of materials;
  • non-contact device Videoextensometer ME-40 (Messphysik), enabling measurements of the material displacement in the chosen direction;
  • non-contact technique device Digital Image Correlation (DIC), used to measure deformation and strain of plant tissue in 3D;
  • transmitted-light polariscope FL200 (GUNT Hamburg) for elastooptic visualization of stress distribution in mechanically stressed sample;
  • MorphoGraphX – a software dedicated for 3D reconstruction and plant cell growth and shape analysis.

For students:

  • Erasmus +:
    • Biophysics
    • Mechanisms of plant development
  • PhD studies on Advanced methods in biotechnology and biodiversity:
    • Biophysical aspect of plant growth and development.