My Master’s students Clara Chng and Lydia Bucciero just wrapped up their 9-month internships at @utrechtpmi.bsky.social group🌱 Super proud of how much they’ve grown — creative, resilient, and full of curiosity. Even better: Clara is staying on to work with me on the XS Drought Fighters project.

Second BOLERO assembly meeting at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK Gatersleben).

I loves seing the industry and social impact presented by Yang Song @y-song.bsky.social. Integrating Microbiome Profiles and Artificial Intelligence to Forecast Plant Performance. #Potato #microbiome #AI #Rhizosphere6

Excited to share that my project "Discovering Microbial Drought Fighters Using Machine Learning" has been awarded funding through the NWO Open Competition XS grant! Looking forward to exploring AI-based new strategies in plant-microbe interactions. @utrechtpmi.bsky.social

Last week, I presented our work on using AI to predict potato growth at Utrecht Microbiome Research Day and was honored to receive the Best Presentation Award! Huge thanks to the organizers and supporters. Excited to keep exploring AI in agriculture!

BOLERO project: After two years of navigating challenges, we finally received the DNA samples from Uganda and Vietnam! Huge thanks to CIRAD, WASI and NaCORI for the collaborative effort. Looking forward to sequencing and analyzing the data to uncover the secrets of the coffee-associated microbiome!

Apparently they did enjoy! @y-song.bsky.social @utrechtpmi.bsky.social

@y-song.bsky.social doing a great job at explaining the importance of the potato microbiome at the @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social microbiome day! Hoping the medical and veterinary microbiome scientists in the audience enjoy the change in perspective.

Microbiome is important not only to human but also plant health. Looking forwards to seeing you at my talk at Utrecht Microbiome Research Day this Thursday 6 March. www.uu.nl/en/events/ut... @utrechtpmi.bsky.social

🌱🔬 Exciting to see Yang Song explain our Nature Microbiology paper in this video! Her work shows how the microbiome of seed potatoes can predict plant growth potential—offering a new way to assess tuber quality before planting. Check it out here: www.microp.org/news/168/new...

📌Vacancy at the University of Amsterdam! Join us at the Green Life Sciences with three open positions by my colleagues. 🌱🌻 1/3 PhD position on "Microbial Host Preference in Plant Stress Resilience" in the group of Dr. Kathrin Wippel: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Preprint alert: Here we report MMF1 - "a microbiota receptor” - through which Arabidopsis plants perceive their soil microbiome. Perception optimises root microbiome composition, immune status and ultimately leads to better growth. Happy reading... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Honoured to be part of this great lineup of speakers!

It was a pleasure to speak at the Bioinformatics for Food Science Symposium—such an inspiring event! Great discussions and insights on the future of food science. Thank the organizers @cmelkonian.bsky.social and @marnixmedema.bsky.social for this amazing event!

Our first issue of 2025 has gone live, featuring... 🥗microbial roles in diet and food insecurity 🛶freshwater microbial dynamics 📈SARS-CoV-2 spike evolution 🚨bacterial danger signals 🥔microbiomes forecasting spud vigor Read it here: www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...

Five years of hard work has paid off! 🎉 What a nice new year surprise—we made it to the cover of Nature Microbiology! 🌟 Acknowledgment to all co-authors and specially Elisa Atza for producing this cover image!

🎉 Congratulations to Dr. Jelle Spooren on the cum laude defense of his PhD thesis, "Plant-driven assembly of disease-suppressive microbiomes" 🌱🦠 🎓 Thanks to @jurriaanton.bsky.social and @algazuccaro.bsky.social for their thoughtful opposition in the defense and the great talks during the seminar!

The plant microbiome starter pack is far from complete. Let us know if you want to be on it! go.bsky.app/QG4wCyf

We have a vacancy for a PhD position with our recently started PMI PI @arsheed-sheikh.bsky.social at Utrecht University. Please apply via: www.uu.nl/en/organisat...

Following up on our recent publication, I'm excited to share that the research briefing of @rlberendsen.bsky.social and I named “Potato crop performance is predicted by tuber microbiome.” is freshly online on Nature Microbiology🧬

Our latest research, "Seed tuber microbiome can predict growth potential of potato varieties," is now published online on Nature Microbiology! 🥔✨ Check out the full paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Let's connect and grow ideas together!

OUT NOW: The seed tuber microbiome can predict future growth of potato varieties in the field 🥔🦠🌱 @rlberendsen.bsky.social @y-song.bsky.social & co www.nature.com/articles/s41...