Juliane

  Wientjes receives the M-grant of the NWO Open Competition Domain Science. M-grants are intended for realising curiosity-driven, fundamental research of high quality and/or scientific urgency.   Mapping photosynthetic light harvesting and light acclimation in three dimensions Dr. Emilie Wientjes (WUR) Revealing photosynthetic regulation at the nanoscale - Plants and algae use light energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars. The light is harvested in a heavy folded membrane, called the thylakoid, that sits inside the chloroplast. What the 3D structure of the thylakoid membrane is and how this structure can change under the influence of light is thus [...]

"HEAT: High temperature Effect on Aradiposis and Tomato seed quality" is the name of the proposal that was awarded to Leonie Bentsink. It is based on a proposal written by Lars Barkermans under the supervision of Mariana Silva Artur and Leónie Bentsink and original submitted to the EPS talent programme. Abstract Seeds are the starting material of agriculture. Climate changes, especially high temperatures, affect seed quality. In this proposal we aim at investigating the effect of high temperature on seed quality. We aim at studying if effects of high temperature can be transferred to the harvested seeds by means of seed treatments. We [...]

The Executive Board has appointed Marnix Medema as professor holding a personal chair in Bioinformatics in the Plant Sciences Group at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). The appointment is effective from 1 December. Marnix Medema (1986) studied biology at Radboud University Nijmegen. In 2009, he received his PhD from the University of Groningen with a project on the discovery of new antibiotics based on genetic information from bacteria. After his PhD graduation, Medema worked at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (Bremen, Germany), where he assembled a large international consortium to assemble experimental data on biosynthetic gene clusters in [...]

After more than 10 years as Theme coordinator 4 Eric Schranz stepped down. During the Theme 4 symposium in December hold in Amsterdam he introduced Aalt-Jan van Dijk (Bioinformatics, WUR) as the new theme 4 coordinator. Together with Maike Stam (UvA) he will organize the EPS Theme 4 symposium and will be part of the research committee. Big thank you to Eric Schranz for all the fantastic work he did as a theme coordinator.

Within the EPS Graduate Programme MSc students get the opportunity to write and submit their own PhD proposals with a research group of their own choice. This year Jarne Berentsen of Wageningen University proposal was awarded by the committee. Jarne Berentsen, WUR (Coach: Emilie Wientjes)  "The interplay between thylakoid membrane reorganisation and photosystem II repair during high-light induced stress"

The aim of this programme is to facilitate innovative and high-quality scientific research within the research field of the top sectors Agri&Food and Horticulture & Starting Materials by engaging young talented researchers at the start of their careers. MSc students get the opportunity to write and submit their own PhD proposals with a research group of their own choice.Three of the calls were granted to EPS MSc students.     Indira Sánchez Bretones, WUR ( Coach: Marian Bemer)     "The impact of timing: unravelling the mechanisms behind inflorescence termination in tomato"     Fabiënne Gidding, RU (Coach: Ivo Rieu)     [...]