Marcel Bucher

Marcel Bucher (born 1964) is a Swiss plant scientist and academic. He is a professor of molecular plant physiology at the University of Cologne and a principal investigator within the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS). His research focuses on the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of nutrient acquisition in plants, specifically the role of mycorrhiza in phosphate transport.

Education and early career Bucher studied biology at the University of Bern, where in 1989 he earned a Diplom (roughly equivalent to a Master of Science) in biology under the supervision of Roland Brändle. He remained at Bern for his doctoral studies under the supervision of Cris Kuhlemeier, completing his PhD in 1992 with a thesis on the anaerobic tolerance of the wetland plant Acorus calamus.

Following postdoctoral work at the Institute for Gene Biological Research in Berlin, he moved to ETH Zurich in 1996 to lead a research group within the department of biology. In 2006, he completed his Habilitation at ETH Zurich with a focus on the molecular biology of phosphate transport at plant-microbe interfaces.

Research and career In 2006, Bucher was appointed as a W2 Professor at the University of Cologne, then promoted to W3 Professor in 2016. His laboratory, based at the Cologne Biocenter, investigates the symbiotic relationship between land plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Bucher is best known for identifying mycorrhiza-specific phosphate transporters, which are essential for the exchange of phosphorus from fungi to host plants. His work demonstrated how these transporters are regulated by the plant's nutrient status and how they contribute to plant fitness under environmental stress.

As a member of CEPLAS, a joint initiative between the universities of Cologne and Düsseldorf, he has expanded his research to include the holobiont concept, examining the wider fungal and bacterial communities associated with plant roots. The incident sparked a widespread debate within the scientific community regarding the reliability of artificial intelligence tools in academic workflows and the necessity of local backups for digital research.

Selected publications