Congratulations to Marnix Medema for receiving a Vidi grant worth 800,000 euros! Below you can find his research summary:

Plants produce a great diversity of valuable compounds, which they use to defend themselves against pathogens and herbivores, and to recruit beneficial microorganisms. These molecules constitute a key source of medicines and crop protection agents for society. The ability to produce these molecules is encoded in specific sets of genes. By designing smart computer algorithms, the researchers aim to identify such genes and their relationships, in order to discover new biosynthetic pathways, link them to their metabolic products and analyse their evolution across plant species.

The Vidi grant is awarded by the Dutch Research Council and enables experienced researchers to develop their own innovative line of research and set up their own research group.

More information and a list of all laureates can be found here.