Iris Meier is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics. Her lab has discovered protein complexes in plants that link the nucleus - the genetic “command center” of the cell - to the rest of the cellular environment. Now, she investigates exactly how and why these complexes are important for plant fertility, environmental stress tolerance, and the symbiosis of plants with other organisms. Iris teaches introductory and advanced cell biology and collaborates with Amy Youngs, Department of Art, on a course that translates concept of modern plant biology into artwork. Iris is a Visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes University, UK, where she works during her summers on collaborative plant cell biology and bioimaging projects. Iris earned her Ph.D. in the Department of Biophysics at the University of Duesseldorf, Germany, followed by postdoctoral training in plant molecular biology at the Max Planck Institute in Cologne, Germany and UC Berkeley, California.