🎉 Congratulations to Martijn Diender on NWO Grant Award!

We warmly congratulate Dr. Martijn Diender on receiving an NWO Open Competition ENW-M grant for his innovative research project “Electricity, eukaryotes and ecosystems.”

A member of CLT and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Wageningen University, Martijn explores fundamental questions at the interface of microbiology, ecology, and bioelectrochemistry.

In this newly funded project, Martijn investigates a fascinating and still poorly understood aspect of microbial life: the ability of microorganisms to transfer electrons outside their cells and generate electricity. While this phenomenon has been mainly studied in electro-active bacteria, it has also been observed in eukaryotic microbes, such as baker’s yeast and fungi. The physiological and ecological relevance of this metabolism in microbial eukaryotes, however, remains largely unknown.

By combining bioelectrochemical cultivation techniques with co-cultivation experiments involving electro-active bacteria, the project aims to unravel the role of extracellular electron transfer in baker’s yeast. This work will lay the foundation for a better understanding of the role of eukaryotic microorganisms in anoxic ecosystems.

This prestigious NWO award highlights the originality and scientific importance of Martijn’s research. We congratulate him on this well-deserved achievement and wish him every success with the project.