WMC - Wageningen Microbiome Center

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In short

Stimulates interdisciplinary microbiome research
Shares expertise and infrastructure
Connects science with industry
Focuses on broad ecosystems
Contributes to societal challenges

Introduction

Wageningen Microbiome Center (WMC) is a collaboration between Wageningen University & Research, UNLOCK and Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). WMC aims to promote microbiome-related research activities by facilitating and fostering interactions across science groups, sharing expertise and infrastructures.

The importance of microbes

Microbiomes are all around us, in all ecosystems, such as soils, plants, animals and humans.

All these micro-organisms are important for ecosystem functions and host health and are considered a research priority for moving towards circular systems.

The potential of microbiomes is recognised to play an important role for many societal challenges, such as:

feeding a growing human population and dietary shifts
halting biodiversity loss
combatting climate change

Why in Wageningen?

Many microbiome-related centers are emerging and established worldwide. These centers are almost exclusively medically oriented and the Netherlands is no exception. But in Wageningen, we have a unique opportunity because WUR, NIOO-KNAW and UNLOCK cumulatively cover environmental and human ecosystems research. This puts us in a key position to propagate our niche approach.