Kerstin Kaufmann investigates the molecular and cellular principles of plant development and regeneration at Humboldt University Berlin. Her research focuses on how cells acquire, maintain, and dynamically adjust their identity. These processes are critical for the coordinated formation of complex and adaptive tissues. A particular emphasis of her work is on symmetry breaking and the emergence of cellular asymmetry, key transitions that determine structure and function during plant development. She combines single-cell and spatial genomics, chromatin profiling, quantitative imaging, and computational modeling with molecular genetics and optogenetics to precisely control developmental and regenerative processes. The goal of her research is to identify general rules of cellular organization and decision-making and to enable applications in agriculture and biotechnology.
Through collaborations with the Berlin Institute for Molecular Systems Biology (BIMSB), the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, and the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), she promotes interdisciplinary networking across molecular biology, quantitative modeling, and bioengineering.