Student testimonial

Sam Mulder: I was encouraged to set up my own small project on the impact of iron deficiency on tomatoes in relation to microbes

The last nine months, the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) has hosted me as an intern, supervised by the Nematology department. Luckily, the institute is only five minutes away from WUR, so I didn’t need to move to a different city. During the first week, I lucked out and was able to attend the annual research day. There, I got to meet my colleagues while doing a treasure hunt in the forest and exploring an old castle. Afterward, I immediately felt more at home at NIOO.

I was working at the Microbial Ecology (ME) department, where I did research on the interaction between soil microbes, tomato root exudates, and tomato plant health, under the guidance of Dr. Jie Hu. Although I wasn’t working with nematodes directly, there was still a lot of overlap in the type of research, as plant-microbe interactions are also studied in Nematology. During my internship, I grew tomato plants in the greenhouse at NIOO and observed the impact of different bacteria on plant health. Additionally, I was encouraged to set up my own small project on the impact of iron deficiency on tomatoes in relation to microbes. During my stay at NIOO, I was impressed by the cooperation between the members of the department. I talked to many different people, some studying the genomic background of plants, for example, and gained new knowledge and experience from a wide variety of perspectives. When I left NIOO, I was pleased to find that I could share some of the insights I gained from my internship with the people at the institute, hopefully contributing to future research. During my stay, I was also able to learn more about bioinformatics through the free workshops I attended. I look back on a very interesting, warm, and enriching time at NIOO. Thank you for hosting me!