Research

Ferenc Nagy is distinguished for his many important contributions to plant molecular biology. The majority of these were made at the Institute of Plant Biology of the Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary. As a postdoctoral fellow he made significant contributions to research into the transcriptional regulation of gene expression, but he is best known for his seminal work in photo- and chronobiology.

He was the first to show that the plant circadian clock controls gene expression at the level of transcription; he later identified key components of photoreceptor-regulated signal transduction to the central clockwork and recently provided experimental evidence about the function of the circadian system in controlling plant fitness and competitiveness. In addition, by demonstrating the light quality and quantity induced nuclear translocation of the phytochrome photoreceptors and the light-induced degradation of negative regulatory molecules, he significantly contributed to a paradigm-change for explaining light-controlled plant growth and development.