1. Cécile Thonar October 2016
What I am doing at FiBL:
1. Leading the “Plant Symbiosis group” in the Department of Soil Sciences at
FiBL
2. Thematic key words: Mycorrhiza, rhizosphere ecology, rhizobia, biological
nitrogen fixation, root biology, organic fertilizers, soil biology and chemistry,
nitrification and denitrification, molecular biology and techniques for
rhizosphere characterization
3. Projects management and coordination:
1. BIOFECTOR: Resource Preservation by Application of Bioeffectors
(plant growth promoting microorganisms) in European Crop Production:
Project acquisition (European funding), work-package coordination, and
supervision of technicians, trainees and students.
2. COWBIA: Multi-purpose cowpea inoculation for improved yields in small
holder farms in Kenya. Main applicant (Swiss Funding) and main
supervisor of the PhD student Samuel Mathu.
3. ZOMM: Zinc Biofortification of Wheat through Organic Matter
Management in Sustainable Agriculture: Project acquisition (Swiss
Funding), project coordination and main supervisor of the PhD student
Benjamin Costerousse
4. NUE-CROPS: Improving nutrient efficiency in major European food,
feed and biofuel crops to reduce the negative environmental impact of
crop production: Genotype x Management Interaction. Study case,
communication, reporting, analysis of 2 years field data.
5. IMPROVE-P: Improved phosphorus resource efficiency in organic
agriculture via recycling and enhanced biological mobilization. Project
acquisition (European funding), coordination and students supervision
6. NFP 68: Structure and function of N2O producing and reducing
microbial communities as influenced by soil management: Project
acquisition (Swiss funding), coordination and student supervision
7. SOYA: Expansion of soybean cultivation in Germany through breeding,
agronomic optimization and processing technology; WP: Breeding for
improved soybean-Bradyrhizobia symbiosis and N fixation under cool
growing conditions. Methods establishment (rhizology) + S.O.P and
students supervision.
8. HPTLC wheat: Influence of cropping system and cultivar on wheat
quality. Reporting and setting up HPTLC based method to detect and
quantify amino acids in wheat grains.
4. Running and establishment of methods:
1. Microbiology: isolation, multiplication and study of bacterial and fungal
strains
2. Molecular biology: RFLP markers, PCR, qPCR, cloning, High
throughput sequencing (PacBio), design of strain specific markers (for
tracing)
3. Microcosms experiments: Crops: soybean, cowpea, maize, tomato;
inoculant: PGPR, AMF, rhizobial strains, plant extracts, fertilizers:
chemical and recycled fertilizers (organic and inorganic)
4. Analytical methods: MALDI-TOF MS, HPTLC for amino acids in wheat
grains
5. Planning: Field trial, field survey, field work with European and African
partners

2. Cécile Thonar October 2016
6. Statistics and bioinformatics: JMP, MEGA, R studio, Allele-ID
7. Acquisition of new projects (National, European and International projects)
8. Supervision of BSc, MSc, PhD students and exchange students
9. Writing publications: 3 publications published, 4 submitted, 5 in preparation
10.Scientific communication (conference, summer school, open door days,
workshop)