Microbiome Analysis PhD Course
February 2024
We had a successful first edition of our course where PhD students learned the basics from running bioinformatics pipelines on a server to ecological data analyses.
December 2023
Congrats to Martijn Bezemer on being awarded the NWO-KIC Increasing above- and belowground biodiversity in arable leek cultivation to stimulate pest control by natural enemies. New positions available soon.
Leiden MSc graduation 2023
September 2023
Congratulations to the three MSc students that worked on the Silva Nova project this year. Great job! It was a beautiful graduation ceremony!
Karin's farewell
August 2023
Time to say goodbye to Karin. Thank you for all your contribution to our group. We wish you all the best in your retirement.
City trees and heat stress
July 2023
New project starting: How does heat stress sensitivity shape the root microbiome of city trees?
We started a new project where we are studying the impact of heat/ drought stress on fungal communities in roots of trees in the city. Sometimes sampling takes a whole day and night!
Klaas' farewell
June 2023
Beautiful retirement ceremony celebrating all Klaas’ achievements and a very successful career.
Silva Nova in Tartu
May 2023
Thanks to Leho for taking us the lush Järvselja Primeval Forest during our Silva Nova visit!
Silva Nova in Tartu
May 2023
This time the Silva Nova team visited the partners in Tartu, Estonia, and we had a great time discussing science and future plans.
Christmas Outing
December 2022
What a pleasant choice for the group outing this year: a sunny afternoon walking through the Dutch dunes! And the best part was spotting the BISONS!
Silva Nova Workshop in Leiden
November 2022
Very insightful discussions during our yearly workshop. Great to receive the Silva Nova team at Leiden University. Exciting plans ahead!
Getting our lab ready
November 2022
New equipment has arrived in our lab for lots of microbiology work!
Welcome Adam
July 2022
We are very excited to have Adam Ossowicki joining our group as a postdoc!
More research on microbiomes of Jacobaea vulgaris and Tyria jacobaeae soon to come...
First year of Silva Nova
July 2022
We are thankful to all our students for doing a great job during their internships within the first year of the Silva Nova project.
Also, congrats to all BSc students finishing up their theses successfully in the Above-Belowground Interactions group.
Leiden City of Science
June 2022
Our group was represented during the Plant Day of the Leiden City of Science event. People of all ages were very interested to hear about our work on plant-microbe interactions. And in the end, everyone took a tree seedling home to plant in their garden!
Setting up experiments in DK
June 2022
Our PhD candidate Kostas has been in Denmark to help set up some pilot experiments with the rest of the Silva Nova team. These experiments will inform our choices for treatments to include in the field experiment next year.
First Silva Nova Workshop live in Dragør, DK
May 2022
We finally gathered the whole team live after one year of the start of the project. Thanks to all participants for making these three days a lively, productive and fun event! Many great ideas to establish our common field experiment!!
(Photo credit: Kent Pørksen)
New experiments starting!
April 2022
This week, three new experiments have been set up to test soil inoculation methods, including the inoculation of microbial fractions. Our climate rooms are full at the moment!
Farewell Ana
March 2022
It's time for Ana to start her next adventure. Good luck in Italy!
New paper by Liu et al.
January 2022
Congrats Xiangyu! First paper from the PhD thesis is out! Check out how resistance against root-feeding nematodes in Jacobaea vulgaris affects neighbouring plants!
First field campaign for Silva Nova!
July 2021
The Leiden team has finished their very first sampling effort for the Silva Nova project, including several forests of different ages in the Netherlands.