University of Missouri

Biography

As Bond LSC’s director, Gassmann works with the Vice Chancellor for Research to develop and implement plans for growth of the MU research enterprise. That includes partnering with academic units to attract research groups to MU and Bond LSC — one of the research centers administered by the Division of Research, Innovation, and Impact (RII). He supervises Bond LSC staff that assist in making all our center’s amazing science possible. He enjoys mentoring junior researchers in his lab, who study the plant innate immune system and the pathogens that attack plants.

Gassmann was born in Karachi, Pakistan. He received his Dipl. rer. nat. (MS) in 1990 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) and his PhD in Plant Biology from UC San Diego in 1996 researching plant membrane transporters in the lab of Dr. Julian Schroeder. After post-doctoral studies at UC Berkeley in the lab of Dr. Brian Staskawicz he joined the Department of Plant Microbiology and Pathology (now Division of Plant Science & Technology) at the University of Missouri in 2000 as an assistant professor of plant microbiology and pathology.

He moved into Bond LSC in 2004 when it opened. In 2017, he stepped into the role of interim director of the Bond LSC upon retirement of its third director, Dr. Jack Schulz, and he was named director in 2021. He is currently a Professor in the Division of Plant Science and Technology, he is a member of the Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG), and he is a principal investigator at Bond LSC. In 2016, he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).