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Research interests
Within the Molecular Plant Pathology group of the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, my group aims to uncover the molecular basis of pathogenicity of the plant-pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum. This fungus causes wilt disease or root/bulb-rot in many plant species of agricultural and horticultural importance.
This includes the identification and charaterization of genes required for pathogenicity, as well as the identification and molecular analysis of effectors: proteins secreted during colonization of host plants. Some of the latter proteins are required for full virulence. Some are recognized in resistant plants carrying a matching Resistance gene, in which case they can be referred to as avirulence factors.
Effector genesreside in lineage-specific chromosomes and chromosomal regions in the genome of F. oxysporum. These chromosomes can transfer between clonal lines and we are studying the mechanisms underlying this unique process.
Whenever our research yields leads for improved control of these diseases we pursue collaboration with the revelant sectors in society.
Swammerdam Institute for Life Science (SILS)
Molecular Plant Pathology home page
Career
After graduating in molecular biology at the University of Amsterdam, I worked as a PhD student in the lab of Molecular Biology headed by Prof. Leslie Grivell. In 1996, I defended my thesis on the role of proteases in mitochondrial biogenesis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
I then moved to Leuven, Belgium, where I worked as a postdoc in the lab of Prof. Johan Thevelein on the response of yeast to osmotic stress, primarily dealing with regulation of transcription.
In 1999, I came back to Amsterdam to work for a year in the lab of Prof. Henk Tabak, setting up microarray technology to studyyeast's transcriptional response to fatty acids.
In 2000 I obtained my current position in the Plant Pathology group of Prof. Ben Cornelissen. From 2002 to 2007 I was research fellow of the Royal Dutch Society for Arts and Sciences.
In 2010 I obtained a NWO-Vici grant to study chromosome transfer in fungi.