The SPP1212 Plant-Micro is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Martin Parniske, chair of genetics in the faculty of biology at the LMU Munich.

He is supported  by an interdisciplinary steering committee.

The interdisciplinary steering committee consists of Prof. Dr. Regine Kahmann (Marburg), Prof. Dr. Thorsten Nürnberger (Tübingen), Prof. Dr. Dierk Scheel (Halle) and Prof. Dr. Paul Schulze-Lefert (Köln). These individuals have the specific expertise to oversee the research strategy of this SPP, evidenced by outstanding track records.

Regine Kahmann is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiologie, Marburg.

Thorsten Nürnberger is currently acting director of the Center of Molecular Plant Biology at Tübingen University.

Dierk Scheel is director of the Department of Stress and Developmental Biology at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Halle.

Paul Schulze-Lefert is a director of the Department of Plant Microbe Interactions at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne.

The Steering committee will be responsible for the scientific management of the SPP and will meet annually in association with the SPP progress report meeting. The steering committee will serve as an internal reviewing board of the SPP which will monitor the progress in individual projects, spot problems early on and offer solutions in case of technical limitations, poor research strategies or communication problems between groups. Its duties also include the assembly of a yearly progress report.