Corné Pieterse elected as new EMBO member

Plant biologist Corné Pieterse has been elected to join EMBO, a European research network for leading scientists in life sciences. This membership is a significant honor and opens up new opportunities for collaboration and sharing ideas.

The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. Its goal is to promote research in life sciences and strengthen international collaborations between researchers. EMBO also provides funding for research grants, courses, workshops, and conferences. Additionally, it publishes five scientific journals.

EMBO members are elected for the significant contributions the made in their research areas. The membership is regarded as an honor and, like the Nobel Prizes, researchers can only be nominated by their peers.

Plant Defense System

Pieterse’s research focuses on how plants defend themselves against harmful microbes and insects. His team maps out the plant's defense system at a molecular level. This knowledge can help scientists develop stronger crops that need fewer pesticides, potentially leading to more sustainable farming and healthier food.

This feels like a recognition of my work, especially because my peers in my own field initiated the election.

“I feel greatly honored to be chosen as an EMBO member,” says Pieterse. “Especially because my peers in my own field initiated the election, it feels like a recognition of my work.”

Supporting Young Researchers

Within the EMBO network, Pieterse plans to focus on supporting junior researchers. “EMBO is a platform where top-level researchers connect, but also where young researchers can flourish. I hope to contribute by organizing workshops where researchers from different fields can meet and help each other.”

Introducing Researchers to NPEC

Pieterse also aims to use his EMBO membership to introduce other researchers to NPEC, a new plant research facility in Utrecht. At NPEC, researchers can use high-tech equipment to study plant growth and health in extreme detail. NPEC opened in 2023, and Pieterse was one of the founders, along with his Utrecht University colleagues George Kowalchuk and Roeland Berendsen.

Previous Milestones

Pieterse has won numerous prestigious awards and grants. In 2004, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded him a Vici grant, and he became a professor of Plant-Microbe Interactions. Six years later, he received an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Research Council. In 2022, he won the Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific award in the Netherlands.

Other EMBO Members at Utrecht University

Several researchers from Utrecht University have been elected as EMBO Members in the past. Previous laureates include Lukas Kapitein (2024), Albert Heck (2014), Ineke Braakman (2014), Piet Gros (2013), Anna Akhmanova (2010), Gerrit van Meer (2003, emeritus) en Robert Kaptein (1991, emeritus).