I come from Bogotá, Colombia where I studied Biology and Microbiology at Los Andes University. At the University of Giessen I finished my diploma thesis in the group of Microbiology and Molecular Biology with Prof. Gabriele Klug. I came back to Colombia and worked with the coffee rust fungus Hemileia vastatrix. It was there where I became absolutely fascinated by the plant - microbe interactions field. In 2007, I started my PhD in the Plant Chemetics Lab at the Max Planck Institute in Cologne with the supervision of Prof. Renier van der Hoorn. During my PhD I studied the plant proteasome and vacuolar processing enzymes (VPEs) and their role in plant-pathogen interactions. Since October 2014, I joined Prof. Gunther Döhlemann’s Terrestrial Microbiology Group at the University of Cologne. We study the suppression of maize defense responses by Pit2, an effector produced by Ustilago maydis. Our main interest is to understand the molecular mechanisms of inhibition of apoplastic proteases important for plant defense by various microorganisms.

Selected list of publications:

1.     Lu, H., Chandrasekar, B., Oeljeklaus, J., Misas-Villamil, J. C., Wang, Z., Shindo, T., Bogyo, M., Kaiser, M., and Van der Hoorn, R. A. L. (2015) Subfamily-specific probes for Cys proteases display dynamic protease activities during seed germination. Plant Physiol. 168, 1462-1475. 

2.     Sueldo, D., Ahmed, A., Misas-Villamil, J. C., Colby, T., Tameling, W., Joosten, M. H. A. J., and Van der Hoorn, R. A. L. (2014) Dynamic hydrolase activities precede hypersensitive tissue collapse in tomato seedlings. New Phytologist. DOI: 10.1111/nph.12870

3.     Misas-Villamil, J. C., Kolodziejek, I., Crabill, E., Kaschani, F., Niessen, S., Shindo, T., Kaiser, M., Alfano, J. R., and Van der Hoorn, R. A. L. (2013) Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae uses proteasome inhibitor Syringolin A to colonize from wound infection sites. PLoS Pathog.  9 (3): e1003281.

4.     Misas-Villamil, J. C., Toenges, G., Kolodziejek, I., Sadaghiani, A. M., Kaschani, F., Colby, T., Bogyo, M., and Van der Hoorn, R. A. L. (2013) Activity profiling of vacuolar processing enzymes reveals a role for VPE during oomycete infection. Plant J. 73, 689-700.

5.     Shindo, T., Misas-Villamil, J. C., Hörger, A., Song, J., and Van der Hoorn, R. A. L. (2012) A role in immunity for Arabidopsis cysteine protease RD21, the ortholog of the tomato immune protease C14. PLoS One 7, e29317.

6.     Misas-Villamil*, J. C., Kolodziejek*, I., and Van der Hoorn, R. A. L. (2011) Pseudomonas syringae colonizes distant tissues in Nicotiana benthamiana through xylem vessels. Plant J. 67, 774-782. (* equal contribution)

7.     Kolodziejek*, I., Misas-Villamil*, J. C., Kaschani, F., Clerc, J., Gu, C., Krahn, D., Niessen, S., Verdoes, M., Willems, L. I., Overkleeft, H. S., Kaiser, M. and Van der Hoorn, R. A. L. (2011) Proteasome activity imaging and profiling characterizes bacterial effector Syringolin A. Plant Physiol. 155, 477-489. (* equal contribution)

8.     Gu, C., Kolodziejek, I., Misas-Villamil, J. C., Shindo, T., Colby, T., Verdoes, M., Richau, K. H., Schmidt, J., Overkleeft, H. S., and Van der Hoorn, R. A. L. (2010) Proteasome activity profiling: a simple, robust and versatile method revealing subunit-selective inhibitors and cytoplasmic, defence-induced proteasome activities. Plant J. 62, 160-170.

9.     Misas-Villamil, J. C., and Van der Hoorn, R. A. L. (2008) Enzyme-inhibitor interactions at the plant-pathogen interface. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 11, 380-388

Dr. Johana Stadtel, geb. Misas Villamil

University of Cologne

CEPLAS / Institiute for Plant Sciences
Chair of Terrestrial Microbiology
Zülpicher Straße 47a
D-50674 Cologne
Tel:  +49 221-470-1503
Fax: +49 221-470-7406
Mail: jmisas@uni-koeln.de