Ingrid

Sadly, on Monday 19 July 2021 prof. dr. J.J.M. (Jacques) Vervoort passed away at the age of 66. It is hard to comprehend that Jacques is no longer with us. After a long career at the Laboratory of Biochemistry, he had formally retired only in February of this year. As is typical for Jacques though, he was still very actively engaged in a large number of research projects, and came by for a chat on an almost daily basis. Jacques Vervoort studied Molecular Sciences at the Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen and received his “engineers” (ir.) degree in 1982, for which he spent [...]

Functional dissection of transcription factor phase separation in plant hormone response Dr. Jan Willem Borst (WUR) Auxin transcription factors are involved in the regulation of plant growth and these proteins contain intrinsically disordered domains. These domains are able to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation and form biomolecular condensates. Until now it is unclear what the role of protein phase separation is on plant development. In this project, we investigate the physiological role of condensate formation of a complete, evolutionary conserved transcription family in Marchantia polymorpha. Using in vivo biochemical, biophysical and cell biology approaches, we aim to uncover the properties of intrinsically disordered protein domains [...]

Emilie Wientjes (WUR, Biophysics) was awarded a VIDI grant for her research 'How flexible is photosynthesis?'. Plants use light to make sugars. However, the quantity and quality of light vary during the day. The researchers use molecular techniques and advanced microscopy to understand how plants adjust their photosynthetic machinery to cope with those changes. This knowledge can contribute to the improvement of photosynthesis in crops. More information about the VIDI research grant is available in Dutch. The VIDI incentive programme is aimed at experienced researchers who have conducted research for several years after obtaining their PhD. The VENI, VIDI and [...]

Dolf Weijers (Biochemistry, WUR) has won an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros for his research programme ‘DIRNDL - Directions in Development’: Multicellular organisms have a front, a back, a top and a bottom, an outside and an inside. To develop normally, each cell in the body needs to know where each side is, so that it can adjust the way it divides, grows and differentiates. This is critical to maintain single cell layers in human organs and prevent uncontrolled cell division, but is equally important in defining the growth and development of plants. Somehow, the information about what [...]

Leónie Bentsink (Plant Physiology, WUR) was awarded an NWO Vici Grant of 1,5 MEuro for her project 'Seeds4Ever: Protection of stored mRNAs to Ensure seed survival. How do seed stored mRNA's survive?' With this funding Leónie Bentsink will investigate how seeds are able to germinate after many years of storage. For this germination the translation of seed stored mRNAs into proteins is essential. The major question of this proposal is how seed stored mRNAs can survive these long storage times as, generally, mRNAs have very short survival times.

Please notice that registration for Lunteren has now opened. On Monday April 8 and Tuesday April 9 the yearly two-day EPS meeting will be held in Lunteren at the conference centre ‘De Werelt’. The programme will consist of plenary sessions on Monday April 8 and thematic parallel sessions on Tuesday April 9.