I completed my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Utrecht University, specializing in plant abiotic stress responses and transcriptional regulation. My PhD research, conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Jane Parker at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) in Cologne, Germany, focused on plant immune signaling. Here, I employed structure-guided protein analysis and advanced molecular genetics and biochemistry tools, including CRISPR and mass spectrometry, to dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying plant immunity.

For my Post-Doc I moved to Wageningen University where I worked as the senior Post-Doc in Christa’s VICI team. Our research centered on unraveling novel salt sensing and signaling pathways in the root and shoot of Arabidopsis. By integrating transcriptomic approaches, we constructed salt-induced gene regulatory networks and evaluated how perturbations in these networks influence plant development. Additionally, we leverage natural variation in wild Arabidopsis accessions to investigate how the floral transition is impacted by salt stress, providing insights into the adaptive capacity of plants to saline conditions.

After an exciting adventure in a rice breeding start-up, I returned to the salt lab working as a researcher leading a project on ThermoCas9, where we are making an open access gene-editing toolkit for major crops.

For an up-to-date list of my publications, please visit:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8553-6802