Marcus Heisler is an Associate Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences within the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney. He is a developmental biologist specializing in pattern formation in plants. He completed his undergraduate degree with honors at the University of Melbourne and pursued his PhD in flower development in the laboratory of Professor David Smyth at Monash University. Following his doctorate, Heisler moved to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for a postdoctoral position in Elliot Meyerowitz's laboratory, where he investigated phyllotaxis, the positioning of plant organs. During his time at Caltech, he pioneered research on the plant hormone auxin and cell polarity, and developed innovative techniques for imaging live plant shoot apices. He later held an appointment as Senior Research Associate at Caltech before joining the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, as their first Australian group leader and the first to focus exclusively on plants.

At EMBL, Heisler received a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant valued at 1.5 million Euros over five years. In 2017, he returned to Australia to assume his current position as Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. His research encompasses plant developmental and reproductive biology, agricultural biotechnology, developmental genetics including sex determination, plant biology, and genetics. Key interests include developmental patterning, the coordination of cells to form tissues and organs. In 2024, Heisler's laboratory, in collaboration with groups in Germany, the UK, and Sweden, was awarded an ERC Synergy Grant worth 17 million dollars over six years for the project Re-engineering Symmetry Breaking in Development and Evolution (RESYDE). This ambitious initiative addresses grand challenges in re-engineering flowers and broader symmetry breaking processes in development and evolution. Heisler's contributions have advanced understanding of mechanisms governing plant organ formation and patterning through auxin signaling and genetic regulation.

Professional Email: marcus.heisler@sydney.edu.au