Katharina Schiessl is a newly appointed Career Development Fellow at the Sainsbury Laboratory at Cambridge University. Her research team is interested in the fundamental question of how plant organs of diverse forms and functions can be generated. Aiming to advance our understanding of the common principles that underpin plant organ diversification at cellular and molecular level, Katharina and her team turn to plant organs that are induced and directed in their development by plant colonisers. These organs with often intricate, custom-built features are commonly referred as plant galls and include the symbiotic root nodules that develop on legume roots in response to nitrogen-fixing bacteria, but also root galls induced by parasitic root-knot nematodes. The Schiessl group uses molecular genetics and cell biology approaches in the legume Medicago truncatula which is a common host for nitrogen-fixing bacteria and parasitic root-knot nematodes. This makes the Medicago root an excellent framework to compare pathways underlying the development of lateral roots, symbiotic root nodules and parasitic root galls within the same genetic background and tissue context. Before joining SLCU, Katharina was a post-doc in the Giles Oldroyd group. She did her PhD in flower development and cell cycle regulation in the Robert Sablowski group.