Martijn Diender is a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Microbiology at Wageningen University. His research focuses on anaerobic microbes, and he aims to contribute to the fundamental understanding of these microbes as well as their applications. He obtained PhD (in 2019) on the microbial conversion of synthesis gas (a mixture of CO, H2, CO2) into chemicals and fuels. During this work, he mainly focused on co-cultivating microbes to expand the product spectrum of synthesis gas fermentation towards chain-elongated products and methane. His current post-doctoral research is a continuation of this work, however, focusing more on the fundamentals of the physiology of carbon monoxide converting acetogens. Additionally, he recently broadened his research interests to study microbial metal metabolism in which he aims to identify and study microbes that have potential for application in metal recovery.