Kira J. Tiedge, Ph. D. 

PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

02/2022 – present 

Assistant Professor | University of Groningen, The Netherlands

• Linking high-throughput -omics to elucidate the biosynthesis and function of specialized metabolites with a role in plant stress tolerance; focusing on investigating molecular mechanisms driving crop environmental adaptation toward improving climate-relevant traits 

• Studying the role of (di-)terpenoids in plant-environment interactions, including the impact of terpenoids on plant-microbe and plant-pollinator interactions

• Applied projects in cultivation adaptation and soil regeneration for sustainable farming in the Wadden Sea, an endangered World Heritage area

• Development and coordination of innovative and student-centered education, including inclusive and culturally responsive teaching

08/2019 – 01/2022

Postdoctoral Researcher | University of California, Davis

Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Philipp Zerbe

• Functional genetics and genomics of key terpenoid and cytochrome P450 enzymes in the biofuel crop switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), including gene discovery, genetic and biochemical approaches for functional characterization and structural elucidation via NMR

• Investigating the effect of drought stress and respective coping mechanisms through integration of large transcriptomics (RNA-seq) and metabolomics (GC-MS, LC-MS) data sets; collaboration with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center

• Metabolic engineering of diterpene and cytochrome P450 pathways in microbial (E. coli) and plant-based (Nicotiana benthamiana) host systems 

04/2013 – 03/2018

PhD Researcher| University of Wuppertal, Germany

Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Gertrud Lohaus

• Regulation of nectar chemistry in day- and night-flowering tobacco (Nicotiana)

07/2015 – 09/2015

Visiting Scientist | University of Minnesota, St. Paul, USA

• The role of MATE genes in nectaries during nectar production

02/2012 – 08/2012

Visiting ERASMUS researcher | University of Graz, Austria

• Nectar biochemistry of Asteraceae

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

02/2022 – present 

Courses

• Lecturer and coordinator “Genetics and Evolution” (2nd year BSc Life Science and Technology) 

• Lecturer “Genetics, Ecology, and Evolution” (1st year BSc Biology) 

• Lecturer “Evolutionary and Ecological Genomics” (2nd year BSc Biology) 

• Coordinator for “BSc Research Projects in Ecology & Evolution” (3rd year BSc Biology) 

Teaching Innovation

• University Teaching Qualification (UTQ, completed in March 2023) 

• Teaching Innovation Project “Activating Student Learning”

• Member of the BSc Life Science & Technology Program Committee

EDUCATION

04/2013 – 03/2018

PhD | University of Wuppertal, Germany

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gertrud Lohaus

• Thesis Title: Regulation of the nectar composition in day- and night-flowering species of the genus Nicotiana

• Maternity and parental leave with 1st child: 11/2016 – 05/2017, 2nd child: 03/2018 – 07/2019

04/2011 – 03/2013

MEd | University of Wuppertal, Germany

• Thesis Title: Analysis of nectar compositions in selected species of the families Asteraceae and Onagraceae

10/2007 – 03/2011

BA | University of Wuppertal, Germany

• Thesis Title: The effect of student-centered experiments on learning success and extrinsic as well as intrinsic motivation

ACQUIRED RESEARCH GRANTS

• “Designing crops for a salty future“ (Lead PI; €320,000) | NWO Talent Program Veni, 2024

• “Harnessing diterpenoid networks for improved salt stress resistance” (Lead PI; €75,000) | FSE Research Grant, 2023

• “Colour and Chemistry: how flowers signal reward quality to pollinators“ (Lead PI; €350,000) | NWO Open Competition M1, 2023

• “Fathom the salty clay“ (Co-Lead PI; €560,000) | Waddenfonds, 2022

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

• Arthur Neish Young Investigator Award ($1,000) | Phytochemical Society of North America, 2022

• Professors for the Future Fellowship ($3,000) | University of California, Davis, 2020 

• Postdoctoral Research Fellowship ($243,600) | German Research Foundation (DFG), 2019 

• Doctorate with Children grant ($1,500) | Center for Graduate Studies (CGS), 2017 

• Full doctoral fellowship ($99,300) | Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, 2014 

• ERASMUS grant ($2,550) | European Union funding program for studying abroad, 2012 

ENGAGEMENT AND COMMITTEE WORK:

• Chair of the “Women in Science and Engineering” (WISE) network

• Science outreach, e.g. at the European Researchers Night and Zpannend Zernike

• Editorial Board member of Annals of Botany 

• Participant of Early Career roundtable discussion with an audience of U.S. Congressional House and Senate appropriations 

• Organization of a “Mothers in STEM symposium” as part of the Professors for the Future Fellowship in April 2021 

• Member of the Fellowship Committee of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation; Reviewing the qualifications and interviewing of candidates for election to fellowship 

• Developed a program dedicated to providing access to biological research experiences to children with disabilities or from underprivileged backgrounds (“Inclusive Botany”) 

• Successfully completed the S4D4C European Science Diplomacy Course funded by the EU 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

• Genesiska, Falcao Salles J, Tiedge KJ (2024). Untangling the rhizosphere specialized metabolome. Phytochemistry Reviews, doi: 10.1007/s11101-024-10036-y

• Liu X, Elzenga JTM, Venema JH, Tiedge KJ (2024). Thriving in a salty future: morpho-anatomical, physiological and molecular adaptations to salt stress in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and other crops, Annals of Botany, doi: 10.1093/aob/mcae152

• Wyatt G, Zerbe P, Tiedge KJ (2024). Characterization of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) PvKSL1 as a levopimaradiene/abietadiene-type diterpene synthase. Plant Biology, doi: 10.1111/plb.13708 

• Tiedge KJ (2022) Piece by piece: making plant natural products accessible via heterologous biosynthesis. Synthetic Biology, doi: 10.1093/synbio/ysac028

• Tiedge KJ, Li X, Merrill AT, Davisson DL, Chen Y, Yu P, Tantillo DJ, Last RL, Zerbe P (2022). Comparative transcriptomics and metabolomics reveal specialized metabolite drought stress responses in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). New Phytologist, doi: 10.1111/nph.18443

• Tiedge KJ, Destremps J, Solano-Sanchez J, Arce-Rodriguez ML, Zerbe P (2022). Foxtail mosaic virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.). Plant Methods, doi: 10.1186/s13007-022-00903-0

• Muchlinski AJ*, Jia M*, Tiedge KJ*, Fell J, Pelot K, Chew L, Davisson D, Chen Y, Chew L, Siegel J, Lovell J, Zerbe P (2021). Cytochrome P450-catalyzed biosynthesis of furanoditerpenoids in the bioenergy crop switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.). The Plant Journal, doi: 10.1111/tpj.15492

• Tiedge KJ*, Muchlinski AJ*, Zerbe P. (2020). Genomics-enabled analysis of specialized metabolism in bioenergy crops: Current progress and challenges. Synthetic Biology, doi: 10.1093/synbio/ysaa005

• Goettlinger T, Schwerdtfeger M, Tiedge KJ, & Lohaus G. (2019). What do nectarivorous bats like? Nectar composition in Bromeliaceae with special emphasis on bat-pollinated species. Frontiers in Plant Science, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00205

• Tiedge KJ, Lohaus G (2018). Nectar sugar modulation and cell wall invertases in the nectaries of day- and night-flowering Nicotiana. Frontiers in Plant Science, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.00622

• Tiedge KJ, Lohaus G (2017). Nectar sugars and amino acids in day- and night-flowering Nicotiana species are more strongly shaped by pollinators’ preferences than organic acids and inorganic ions. PLoS ONE, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176865

* These authors contributed equally to this work

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS AND POSTERS

• “Unearthing specialized metabolites for crop protection” | Invited speaker, International Conference on Plant Metabolism 2024 

• “Color and Chemistry: how flowers signal reward quality to pollinators” | Invited speaker, International Botanical Congress 2024

• “Unearthing specialized metabolites for crop protection” | Plenary speaker, Experimental Plant Sciences 2024

• “Exploring (di)terpenoid diversity for sustainable crop production” |Invited speaker, Terpnet 2023

• “Identification of novel diterpenoids for sustainable agriculture and increased drought tolerance of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)” |Invited speaker, PSNA meeting 2022

• “Discovery and pathway elucidation of terpenoids and other specialized metabolites involved in abiotic stress responses” | Invited speaker, PhytochemTalks seminar series 2022 

• “How can we grow better biofuel crops?” |Invited talk, Postdoctoral Research Symposium (PRS) 2022 

• “Improved biofuel production through discovery and engineering of terpene metabolism in switchgrass” | Poster, Genomic Sciences Program (GSP) Annual Principal Investigator (PI) Meeting 2021 

• “Improving stress tolerance in the bioenergy crop switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)” | Invited speaker, German Conference on Synthetic Biology 2020 

• “Improving stress tolerance in the bioenergy crop switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) by investigating and engineering terpene metabolic networks” | Poster, EMBO BIOCHEM 2020 

• “Improved biofuel production through discovery and engineering of terpene metabolism in switchgrass” | Poster, Genomic Sciences Program (GSP) Annual Principal Investigator (PI) Meeting 2020 

• “Regulation of nectar composition in day‐ and night‐flowering tobacco plants” | Poster, International Plant Science Conference of the German Society for Plant Sciences 2015 (Best Poster Prize)

• “Regulation of nectar composition in day‐ and night‐flowering tobacco plants” | Poster, American Society of Plant Biologist (ASPB) Conference 2015 

• “Regulation of nectar composition of day- and night-flowering plants” | Invited speaker, International Plant Science Conference of the German Society for Plant Sciences 2013 

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

• Agricola School of Sustainable Development | Fellow

• Botanical Society of America (BSA) | Elected International Representative of the Phytochemical Section 

• Experimental Plant Sciences (EPS) | Member

• German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) | Member 

• Netherlands Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NVBMB) | Member

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