Prof. Dr. Ulrich Zimmermann

    

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Zimmermann, founder of the company ZIM Plant Technology GmbH and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board. He mentors and advises all national and international ZIM-probe projects. He is also the coordinator of a R&D network project between ZIM Plant Technology GmbH and the University of Applied Science Eberswalde and the Leibniz Institute IHP GmbH (Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics), Frankfurt (Oder). The project is funded by the ZukunftsAgentur (Economic Development Board) Brandenburg.

From 1969 - 1984 Prof. Dr. Zimmermann was the head of the Membrane Research Group at the Research Center Jülich, Germany, and from 1984 - 2009 head of the Department of Biotechnology at the University of Würzburg, Germany. From July 2009 onwards he is a Seniorprofessor at the Biocenter of the University of Würzburg.


His main fields of research are

              
  • Electromanipulation of cells and organelles    
  • Immunoisolated transplantation of cells    
  • Turgor-mediated processes in algae and higher plants

    •  

    Prof. Dr. Zimmermann is author of c. 500 publications and 120 patents.

     

    Inventions

    His most important inventions which are used worldwide in many laboratories are:

  • the electroporation and electrofusion techniques of cells (together with G. Pilwat)
  • the non-invasive cell electrorotation method (together with W.M. Arnold und V.L. Sukhorukov)
  • the immunoisolated cell transplantation on the basis of ultra-high viscosity alginates (together with H. Zimmermann)
  • the minimal-invasive probe for measuring plant cell turgor (together with H. Räde)
  • the minimal-invasive probe for measuring xylem pressure in plants (together with A. Balling)
  • the magnetic, non-invasive probe for measuring turgor in leafy plants (together with D. Zimmermann)

      Publications

      • Zimmermann U, Neil GA (1995) Electromanipulation of Cells, CRC Press, Boca Raton, New York, London, Tokyo.
      • Zimmermann H, Shirley SG, Zimmermann U (2007) Alginate-based encapsulation of cells: past, present, and future, Diabetes reports 7, 314-320.
      • Zimmermann U, Räde H, Steudle E (1969) Kontinuierliche Druckmessung in Pflanzenzellen. Naturwissenschaften 56, 634.
      • Balling A, Zimmermann U (1990) Comparative measurements of the xylem pressure of Nicotiana plants by means of the pressure bomb and pressure probe. Planta 182, 325-338.
      • Wegner LH, Zimmermann U (2002) Online measurements of K+ activity in the tensile water of the xylem conduit of higher plants. The Plant Journal 32, 409-417.
      • Zimmermann U, Schneider H, Wegner LH, Haase A (2004) Water ascent in tall trees: does evolution of land plants rely on a highly metastable state? New Phytologist (Tansley Review) 162, 575-615.
      • Zimmermann D, Westhoff M, Zimmermann G, Geßner P, Gessner A, Wegner LH, Rokitta M, Ache P, Schneider H, Vásquez JA, Kruck W, Shirley SG, Jakob P, Hedrich R, Bentrup F-W, Bamberg E, Zimmermann U (2007) Foliar water supply of tall trees: evidence for mucilage-facilitated moisture uptake from the atmosphere and the impact on pressure bomb measurements. Protoplasma 232, 11-34.
      • Westhoff M, Schneider H, Zimmermann D, Mimietz S, Stinzing A, Wegner LH, Kaiser W, Krohne G, Shirley SG, Jakob P, Bamberg E, Bentrup F-W, Zimmermann U (2008) The mechanisms of refilling of xylem conduits and bleeding of tall birch during spring. Plant Biology 10, 604-623.
      • Westhoff M, Zimmermann D, Zimmermann G, Geßner P, Wegner LH, Bentrup F-W, Zimmermann U (2009) Distribution and function of epistomatal mucilage plugs. Protoplasma 235, 101-105.
      • Zimmermann D, Reuss R, Westhoff M, Geßner P, Bauer W, Bamberg E, Bentrup F-W, Zimmermann U (2008) A novel, non-invasive, online monitoring, versatile and easy plant-based probe for measuring leaf water status. Journal of Experimental Botany 59, 3157-3167.
      • Westhoff M, Zimmermann D, Schneider H, Wegner LH, Geßner P, Jakob P, Bamberg E, Shirley SG, Bentrup F-W, Zimmermann U (2009) Evidence for discontinuous water columns in the xylem conduit of tall birch trees. Plant Biology 11, 307-327.
      • Westhoff M, Reuss R, Zimmermann D, Netzer Y, Gessner A, Geßner P, Zimmermann G, Wegner LH, Bamberg E, Schwartz A, Zimmermann U (2009). A non-invasive probe for online monitoring of turgor pressure changes under field conditions. Plant Biology 59, 701-712.
      • Zimmermann U, Rüger S, Shapira O, Westhoff M, Wegner LH, Reuss R, Geßner P, Zimmermann G, Israeli Y, Zhou A, Schwartz A, Bamberg E, Zimmermann D (2010) Effects of environmental parameters and irrigation on the turgor pressure of banana plants measured using the non-invasive, online monitoring leaf patch clamp pressure probe. Plant Biology 12, 424-436.

      phone: +49 (0) 33762 5150661

      email: info@zim-plant-technology.com