Dr. Arezoo Rahimi received her PhD from Leiden University in the Netherlands, specializing in plant developmental genetics. She then conducted postdoctoral research in the Stress Biology Department, studying how plants adjust developmental programs under environmental stress. After four years, she joined Freie Universität Berlin as a Senior Postdoc through the Rising Star program and soon after was awarded the Humboldt Experienced Researcher Fellowship. She is now an independent researcher at Freie Universität Berlin, leading research in the Biochemistry of Plant-Microbe Interactions hosted by Prof. Dr. Marcel Wiermer and Prof. Dr. Mitja Remus-Emsermann.

Her research focuses on plant development, stress biology, and plant–microbe interactions, with emphasis on root age, root longevity, and the complex “soil black box” surrounding the root system. She investigates how young, mature, and aging root tissues differ in sensing, recruiting, and responding to beneficial microbes, how microbial partners extend root lifespan, and how these interactions enhance plant resilience under combined abiotic and biotic stresses. Using developmental genetics, high-resolution root imaging, transcriptomics, and microbiome profiling, she aims to decode the hidden belowground networks that govern plant performance and translate these insights into microbiome-assisted strategies for climate-resilient crops.

Dr. Rahimi leads interdisciplinary collaborations with the Universities of Berlin, Göttingen, Potsdam, and Ulm, mentoring early-career scientists and building a sustainable research platform to understand the interplay between root developmental stage, beneficial microbes, and soil environments, with a focus on root-to-shoot signaling. Her work advances fundamental knowledge of belowground plant biology while informing future microbe-informed agricultural systems capable of withstanding climate pressures.