S1 ACTA BOT. CROAT. 79 (1), 2020 Social news The Spiridion Brusina Medal for 2019 has been awarded to German plant biologist Professor Jutta Ludwig-Müller Since 1997 the Croatian Society of Natural Sciences has acknowledged foreign scientists who have made substan- tial contributions to the Croatian natural science field by awarding the Spiridion Brusina Medal. Spiridion Brusina, a Croatian biologist and zoologist, was the founder of ma- rine biology in Croatia and the first professor in the topic at the University of Zagreb. Renowned scientists from many countries and different life science fields over the world have been awarded this medal. Awardee for 2019 is Prof. Dr. Jutta Ludwig-Müller from the Faculty of Biology at Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, who is honored for her ac- complishments in the field of plant biology and the promo- tion of Croatian science for the last 20 years. Jutta Ludwig-Müller graduated in 1986 and obtained a PhD in 1990 in Plant Science at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany. She was habilitated in the field of bota- ny in 1996 at the same university. Since 1999 she has been a professor at the Technische Universität Dresden, and since 2001 director of the Dresden Botany Institute. She is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Plant Growth Regulation and is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Botany, Plant Signaling & Behavior, Mutation Research. She is a member of numerous scientific and professional societies, and leader of numerous projects in the field of plant biology and biotechnology. Professor Ludwig-Müller has extensive experience and expertise in plant physiology, molecular plant biology, as well as protein biochemistry and hormone determination. Her main research interest is the function and regulation of the activity of the plant hormone auxin by studying the synthesis and hydrolysis of conjugates, as well as the interaction with other plant hormones during plant growth and development. In addi- tion, she investigates the role of auxin in the interactions of plants with pathogenic and beneficial microorganisms. Professor Ludwig-Müller intensively studies the disease of cabbages caused by the pathogen Plasmodiophora brassi- cae, which causes extensive damage within the Brassicaceae family. Working at physiological, biochemical and molec- ular levels, her aim is to discover possible defense mecha- nisms. Furthermore, her work addresses the possibility of the biocontrol of this important disease with endophytes. The scientific interests of Professor Ludwig-Müller are also focused on the response of plants to factors of abiotic stress with particular interest in the role of plant bioactive com- pounds, in particular the plant hormone auxin and special- ized metabolites. For the last twenty years Professor Jutta Ludwig-Müller has been actively involved in cooperation with Croatian scientists from several institutions in Croatia: Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb, and Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek. Ludwig-Müller is active as the head of numerous Croatian- German bilateral projects with colleagues from the Faculty of Science, as a manager of an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation project that was conducted with colleagues from the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb, and a col- laborator on projects of the Croatian Science Foundation. Under the ages of these collaborative ventures, 18 scientific papers were published in renowned journals and, at her ini- tiative, an In memoriam dedicated to a long-time associate from Croatia, Dr. Volker Magnus. Within the framework of these projects, numerous associates from Croatia have ad- vanced as PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists in the group of Professor Ludwig-Müller learning new modern methods in the field of plant molecular bi- Fig. 1. Professor Jutta Ludwig-Müller presented her twenty years of collaboration with Croatian scientists by giving a lecture on “Control of the plant hormone auxin in different plant species and during the interaction of plants with their environment” at a mini-symposium of the Croatian Society of Plant Biologists, held in Zagreb on November 29 2019.. ACTA BOT. CROAT. 79 (1), 2020 S2 ology and analytics. Within the Alexander von Humboldt project, valuable equipment was also purchased and used at the Rudjer Bošković Institute. She has been a member of the Ruđer Bošković Institute's International Scientific Council since 2011. She was the evaluator of the PhD thesis of Ivana Šola from Faculty of Science Zagreb: Molecular mechanisms of transport and biological function of phenolic derivatives in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. in 2013. She is an ac- tive peer reviewer of the journal Acta Botanica Croatica. She was a plenary lecturer at the Croatian Botanical Congress, Zagreb (2007) and an invited lecturer organized by the Croatian Society of Plant Biologists and the PhytoBraCro project of the Croatian Science Foundation (2018). In 2014 and 2015, she was the coordinator of the ERASMUS Biology Program at Technische Universität Dresden for universities in Zagreb and Split. Thus, Professor Jutta Ludwig-Müller has made a signif- icant contribution to the development of science in plant biology in Croatia, because through these collaborative ef- forts new topics have been opened up in Croatia in the field of research into specialized metabolites and the role of the plant hormone auxin in abiotic and biotic stresses. Partic- ularly useful are the training sessions of young scientists, doctoral students and postdoctoral students from Croatia in her group, which enable them access to modern analyti- cal instrumentation and work in an international environ- ment. Professor Jutta Ludwig-Müller supports the career development of young scientists from Croatia with letters of support when they are applying for scholarships and re- search projects. In view of the above, the members of the Croatian Society for Plant Biologists warmly recommend- ed Professor Jutta Ludwig-Müller for the Spiridion Brusina Medal Award. The award ceremony took place on 29th November 2019 in Zagreb at a mini-symposium of the Croatian Society of Plant Biologists. The medal was presented by the President of the Croatian Society of Natural Sciences Professor Zrin- ka Kovarik. Branka Salopek Sondi, PhD Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb Fig. 2. Professor Zrinka Kovarik, the President of the Croatian Society of Natural Sciences, presenting the Spiridion Brusina Medal (A), and awarding the medal to Professor Jutta Ludwig-Müller (B). B Joint scientific publications by Professor Jutte Ludwig- Müller and Croatian scientists: 1. Smolko, A., Ludwig-Müller, J., Salopek-Sondi, B., 2018: Auxin amidohydrolases – from structure to function: Revisited. Croatica Chemica Acta 91(2), 17. 2. Karačić, Z., Vukelić, B., Ho, G.H., Jozić, I., Sučec, I., Salopek-Sondi, B., Kozlović, M., Brenner, S.C., Ludwig-Müller, J., Abramić, M., 2017: A novel plant enzyme with dual activity: an atypical Nudix hydro- lase and a dipeptidyl peptidase III. Biological Chem- istry 398, 101–112. 3. Smolko, A., Šupljika, F., Martinčić, J, Jajčanin-Jozić, N., Grabar-Branilović, M., Tomić, S., Ludwig-Müller, J., Piantanida, I., Salopek-Sondi, B., 2016: The role of conserved Cys residues in Brassica rapa auxin amido- hydrolase: the Cys139 is crucial for the enzyme activ- ity and the Cys320 regulates enzyme stability. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physic 18, 8890–8900. 4. Lovelock, D.A., Šola, I., Marschollek, S., Donald, C. E., Rusak, G., van Pee, K.-H. Ludwig-Müller, J., Ca- hill, D.M., 2016: Analysis of salicylic acid-dependent pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana following infection with Plasmodiophora brassicae and the influence of salicylic acid on disease. Molecular Plant Pathology 17, 1237–1251 5. Salopek-Sondi, B., Pollmann, S., Gruden, K., Oelmüller, R., Ludwig-Müller, J., 2015: Improvement of root ar- chitecture under abiotic stress through control of auxin homeostasis in Arabidopsis and Brassica crops. Journal of Endocytobiosis and Cell Research 26, 100–111. A S3 ACTA BOT. CROAT. 79 (1), 2020 6. Mittag, J., Šola, I., Rusak, G., Ludwig-Müller, J., 2015: Physcomitrella patens auxin conjugate synthetase (GH3) double knockout mutants are more resistant to Pythium infection than wild type. Journal of Plant Physiology 183, 75–83. 7. Ludwig-Müller, J., Jülke, S., Geiß, K., Richter, F., Mithöfer, A., Šola, I., Rusak, G., Keenan, S., Bulman, S., 2015: A novel methyltransferase from the intracel- lular pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae methylates salicylic acid. Molecular Plant Pathology 16, 349–364. 8. Likić, S., Šola, I., Ludwig-Müller, J., Rusak, G., 2014: Involvement of kaempferol in the defence response of virus infected Arabidopsis thaliana. European Journal of Plant Pathology 138(2), 257–271. 9. Salopek-Sondi, B., Šamec, D, Mihaljević, S., Smolko, A., Pavlović, I., Janković, I., Ludwig-Müller, J., 2013: Influence of stress hormones on auxin homeostasis in Brassica rapa seedlings. Plant Cell Reports 32, 1031– 1042. 10. Leljak-Levanić, D., Ježić, M., Cesar, V., Ludwig- -Müller, J., Lepeduš, H., Mladinić, M., Katić, M., Ćurković-Perica, M., 2010: Biochemical and epigen- etic changes in phytoplasma-recovered periwinkle af- ter indole-3-butyric acid treatment. Journal of Applied Microbiology 109, 2069–2078. 11. Rusak, G., Cerni, S., Stupin Polancec, D., Ludwig- -Müller, J., 2010: The responsiveness of the IAA2 pro- moter to IAA and IBA in Arabidopsis thaliana is dif- ferentially affected in roots and shoots by flavonoids. Biologia Plantarum 54, 403–414. 12. Rusak, G., Piantanida, I., Bretschneider, S., Ludwig- -Müller, J., 2009: Complex formation of quercetin with lanthanum enhances binding to plant viral sat- ellite double stranded RNA. Journal of Inorganic Bio- chemistry 103, 1597–1601. 13. Savić, B., Tomić, S., Magnus, V., Gruden, K., Barle, K., Grenković, R., Ludwig-Müller, J., Salopek-Sondi, B., 2009: Auxin amidohydrolases from Brassica rapa cleave the alanine conjugate of indolepropionic acid as a preferable substrate: a biochemical and modeling approach. Plant and Cell Physiology 50, 1577–1589. 14. Walz, A., Seidel, C., Rusak, G., Park, S., Cohen, J.D., Ludwig-Müller, J., 2008: Heterologous expression of IAP1, a seed protein from bean modified by indole- 3-acetic acid, in Arabidopsis thaliana and Medicago truncatula. Planta 227, 1047–1061. 15. Gutzeit, H.O., Tokalov, S.V., Ludwig-Müller, J., Rusak, G., 2005: Monitoring flavonoid metabolism in human cells by exploiting fluorescence elicited upon querce- tin/protein interactions. Croatica Chemica Acta 78, 337–342. 16. Rusak, G., Gutzeit, H., Ludwig-Müller, J., 2005: Struc- turally related flavonoids with antioxidative properties differentially affect cell cycle progression and apoptosis of human acute leukemia cells. Nutrition Research 25, 143–155. 17. Campanella, J. J., Olajide, A. F., Magnus, V., Ludwig-Müller, J., 2004: A novel auxin conjugate hy- drolase from wheat with substrate specificity for longer side-chain auxin amide conjugates. Plant Physiology 135(4), 2230–2240. 18. Rusak, G., Gutzeit, H., Ludwig-Müller, J., 2002: Ef- fects of structurally related flavonoids on hsp gene ex- pression in human promyeloid leukaemia cells. Food Technology and Biotechnology 40, 267–273. 19. Bandurski, S.R., Baraldi, R., Cohen, D.J., Ilić, N., Ludwig-Müller, J., Michalczuk, L., Salopek-Sondi, B., 2009: In Memory of Dr. Volker Magnus, Plant Biolo- gist. Journal of Plant Growth Regulation 28(4), 305– 308.