Patricia Lang

How did I get here? Briefly: a love for plants, serendipity, luck, and a winding path. Chronologically: An ecology focused BSc thesis on lichens in Swedish forests made me want to balance outdoors biology with indoors lab experiments. Thus, both my MSc and PhD work focused on the molecular characterization of plant proteins in different developmental contexts, the former in root epidermal patterning (with Markus Grebe, Umeå Plant Science Center, Sweden), the latter in miRNA biogenesis and function (with Detlef Weigel, MPI for Biology, Germany). In between, I went on an adventure exploring science journalism.

Swapping gloves with keyboard, and genetics & developmental biology with evolution & population biology, I continued to explore new corners of biology and did a short Postdoc with Hernán Burbano (MPI for Biology, Ancient Genomics and Evolution, Germany – now @ University College London, UK). I worked both in lab and in silico with modern and historical (ancient) DNA, gained from samples that I collected in forests and herbaria (finally outdoors again!), all the way from extractions to sequence analysis.

With this diverse foundation, I became an HFSP long-term Postdoc with Dominique Bergmann at Stanford, and Research Associate with Botany at the California Academy of Sciences. Here, I integrate wet- and dry lab, modern and historical DNA, and follow plant global change adaptation from underlying genetic changes to their molecular and physiological readouts.

Now I am excited to start my lab at UC Berkeley in early 2024, where we will combine all of the above to try to understand plant responses to climate change and dissect the underlying developmental changes. More on that here. 

In addition, in- and outside of the lab, I am fascinated by all aspects of language, and juggling with grammar, words and punctuation. How a purposeful combination and succession of words, commas and dots becomes more than the ‘sum of all parts’. Ultimately, biological organisms follow similar principles: Growth, development and homeostasis are largely based on differential regulation of transcription, and translation, both per se already language-references — alas, the language-parallel is not new. As I, besides biology, believe in the power of words, and the importance of communication, I am working on skills to combine both. I want to help translate what we know to a language that everybody can understand.

Interested? Get in touch here! And for more details on the above, ie publications, here.