Gravitational Biology I

Chapter 1: Gravity Sensing, Graviorientation and Microgravity.- Chapter 2:  Methods for Gravitational Biology Research.- Chapter 3: Gravitaxis in Flagellates and Ciliates.-  Chapter 4: Gravitropism in Tip-Growing Rhizoids and Protonemata of Characean Algae.- Chapter 5: Gravitropism in Fungi, Mosses and Ferns.- Chapter 6: Gravitropism in Higher Plants: Cellular Aspects.- Chapter 7: Gravitropism in Higher Plants: Molecular Aspects.- Chapter 8: Bioregenerative Life Support Systems in Space Research.

Dr. rer. nat. habil. Markus Braun is Head of the Space Life Sciences Program, Space Administration, German Aerospace Center DLR and serves as German delegate of the Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration Program Board of the European Space Agency ESA. He is appointed faculty member at the University Bonn and coordinator of the Gravitational Biology Group. Special focus of his research is on gravitational biology, plant gravity sensing mechanisms and bioregenerative life support. He was principle investigator of gravitational biology projects conducted on microgravity simulators, sounding rockets, parabolic flights, Space Shuttles, biosatellites and on the International Space Station.



Dr. rer. nat. Maik Böhmer is a lecturer and group leader at the Institute for Plant Biology and Biotechnology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) Münster. He has received his PhD from the Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne and worked as a PhD fellow at the University of California San Diego. His research topic is plant adaptations to adverse environments, including drought, salinity, pathogens and microgravity. Since 2012 he is involved in gravitational biology research and has been a Principal Investigator (PI) in several micro-g related drop tower and parabolic flight campaigns.

Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. Donat-Peter Häder is retired director of the Botanical Institute and Botanical Garden at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and held the chair for Ecophysiology. His research focuses on the behavioral, physiological and molecular graviperception mechanisms in microorganisms using parabolic flights, sounding rockets, satellites and the International Space Station (ISS) as well as simulated microgravity. He has been principal investigator (PI) of several micro-g related studies on ground and in space. He is the author of close to 700 publications and has written,

"I found this volume to be a well-written introduction to the topics of gravitropism, gravitaxis, and plant space biology. The book is recommended for new graduate students in the field of gravitational and space biology of plants and will provide a great overview to this group." (John Z. Kiss, Plant Science Bulletin, Vol. 64 (3), 2018)