Hanns-Heinz Kassemeyer studied Horticultural Science, with majors in Botany and Plant Pathology, at the Technical University of Munich (Germany). Here, he obtained the PhD in Botany with a thesis about cytological studies on the macrospore development and fertilization in grapevine in 1981. From 1982 to 1985 he was responsible for the assessment and registration of pesticides for the application in viticulture at the Federal Institute for Plant Protection (presently Julius-Kühn-Institut) in Braunschweig (Germany). Since 1985 he is the head of the section of Plant Pathology and Plant Protection at the State Institute of Viticulture and Oenology in Freiburg (Germany). In 2001 he assumed the supervision of the Department of Biology at the institute. Hanns got the postdoctoral lecture qualification at the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg in the field of Plant Physiology and since 2008 he is member of the Faculty for Biology as an assistant professor. The main subject of his research is the biology of biotrophic grapevine pathogens such as Plasmopara viticola and Erysiphe necator and their interaction with different Vitis genotypes. A special focus is on the visualization of both pathogens during the development on both structural and ultrastructural levels by means of different microscopical techniques such as Epifluorescence (EF) and Immunofluorescence (IF), Low-Temperature-Scanning-Electron-Microscopy (LTSEM), Transmission-Electron-Microscopy (TEM), and Atomic-Force-Microscopy (AFM). Recently, studies were started on the structure of the host surface including the epicuticular waxes by means of LTSEM and AFM. In an additional field, dealing with host pathogen-interactions, the defense response of the host plant is characterized on a molecular, biochemical and cellular level.
Hanns first joined the IOBC/wprs ‘Integrated Protection in Viticulture’ 1985 at Bernkastel and participated in the IOBC meetings at Sion, Bordeaux, Freiburg, Florence, and Boario Terme. He was responsible for the organization of the meeting in Staufen, 2009.
