Widmer, Alex

Biography

Alex Widmer is Professor of Plant Ecological Genetics at the Institute of Integrative Biology within the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich, since 2005. Alex Widmer was born in Basel, Switzerland, on March 9, 1969. He completed his studies in Biology at ETH Zurich in 1992 and received his PhD from ETH Zurich in 1996. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Geobotanical Institute at ETH Zurich, at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, and Université Paris-Sud, France. In 2003 he returned to Switzerland as group leader at the Geobotanical Institute. In 2005 he was appointed as Associate Professor and since 2009 he is Full Professor of Plant Ecological Genetics at ETH Zurich.

Research Interest

He is interested in evolutionary processes in plants. Current research projects focus on the genetic basis of adaptation, the evolution of reproductive isolation and ecological speciation, as well as the evolution of separate sexes and sex chromosomes in plants. Developing a better understanding of the genetic basis of adaptation is of fundamental interest in evolutionary plant biology but is also of central interest in the light of global environmental change. The process of adaptation links ecological with evolutionary processes in the context of ecological speciation. Most of our projects combine population genomic or transcriptomic analyses with field or greenhouse experiments. In an effort to contribute to the conservation of biological diversity we aim to develop molecular tools to help identification and tracing of tropical timber species. Current projects focus on rosewoods in the genus Dalbergia (Fabaceae).