Marcin Nowicki joined the Pauly Lab in September 2006, directly after defending his PhD in Plant Lipid Biochemistry at the Technical University of Aachen (Germany). His M.Sc. research performed at the Warsaw Agricultural University (Poland; graduated 2002) focused on biochemical characterization of nitrogen-assimilating machinery. At the same time, he was working part-time for Astra-Zeneca Poland. Before graduation, Marcin completed extensive molecular biology training during a two-semester exchange program in Dr. K. Kondo's group at Hiroshima University (Japan). The currently pursued projects deal with nucleotide-sugar network/pectin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis, tobacco, and tomato. If there’s any time left at all after lab, Marcin enjoys jogging, swimming and biking, as well as dancing salsa or singing some counter-tenor tunes.           E-mail: marcin@msu.edu

Jacob K Jensen did his PhD and one year post doc in Professor Henrik V Scheller’s group at Department of Plant Biochemistry, LIFE, University of Copenhagen (Denmark) investigating several glycosyl transferases in CAZy GT fam47 involved in pectin biosynthesis as well as trying to unravel the mysteries of the Arabidopsis CSLD genes. Jacob joined the Pauly Lab in March 2008. His current work is at part of the Great Leaks Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) aimed to identify transcription factors involved in hemicellulose biosynthesis. The approach is a collaborative effort between the Wilkerson, Keegstra and Pauly groups. Each group is applying extensive high-through-put sequence profiling in a number of plant systems each specifically producing a single cell wall polymer, in Jacob’s case xyloglucan in the Nasturtium seed. This data has allowed Jacob to identify transcription factors whose role might be to regulate biosynthesis of the major hemicellulose present in dicots. Ultimately, such knowledge will enable the manipulation of the hemicellulose content in bioenergy crops significantly increasing the degradability of their lignocellulosics and thus increasing sugar yields for biofuel production. E-mail: jensen58@msu.edu

Amancio Jose de Souza joined the Pauly lab in February 2009 as a PhD student from the MSU Genetics Graduate Program. His MSc on Horticultural Science was conducted at the University of Sao Paulo ? ESALQ (Brazil; graduated in 2008), where he worked on RNAi mediated viral defense in transgenic citrus plants. He has a background in agronomy and was a project manager for the Brazilian aid service for small businesses (SEBRAE; 2002-2006). Amancio will be working on Arabidopsis xyloglucan structure and dynamics. E-mail: souzaama@msu.edu

Markus Gunl is interested in the biochemical and molecular biological characterization of xyloglucan mutants. In particular he makes use of a method that combines an analytical digest of xyloglucan followed by mass spectrometrical analysis of the released oligosaccharides. He graduated in 2006 from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, with Masters degree in Biological Sciences. Before he joined the Pauly Lab in 2007 as a Visiting Scholar, he held a  Marie-Curie Fellowship at INRA in Versailles, France.
E-mail: gunlm@msu.edu

Cliff Foster is currently working in the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) Analytical Cell Wall facility in the Pauly lab as a technician.  The facility provides composition analysis on the plant cell wall material that is generated from GLBRC research projects which focus a solution to find renewable energy sources from otherwise unused feedstock material such as corn stalks, field grasses, wood chips, and other plant materials.  Cliff graduated from MSU where he obtained a B.S. in Chemistry. Email: foster54@msu.edu

Tina Martin joined the GLRBC Analytical Cell Wall group in early 2009.  She will also help with the compositional analysis of cell wall material to support the GLBRC projects seeking renewable energy sources from feedstock material. Tina graduated from MSU in 2006 with a B.A. in Chemistry. E-mail: nguye113@msu.edu

Greg Fedewa  is a Junior in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. He is working together with Sascha Gille on the genetic mapping of newly identified xyloglucan mutants. He plans to graduate in spring 2009 and then to continue on to graduate school. E-mail: fedewag@msu.edu

Jonathan Roussey has been working with Jacob since July 2008 on methods to characterize xyloglucan transcription factor mutants. Recently, he has also started working with Sascha mapping a novel Arabidopsis thaliana cell wall mutant affected in xyloglucan structure and, occasionally, he gives Cliff a hand in the high-through-put facility. Jon is a Senior in Biochemistry University of Michigan, Dearborn. E-mail: roussey@msu.edu