We are part of the Horticulture and Product Physiology chair group at Wageningen University.

lab news

August 2020:

• After a long time, some news: We have been very challenged with the Corona Crisis for the last months, but things are starting to take off again
• The lab is slowly opening, but we cant work full time at the bench. We combine it with bioinformatics, meta-analysis, and lit review for the time being, which are also important activities anyway
• Our new molecular assistant Roel Heutink started this week, and we have also a couple of new MSc thesis students; Mengxiao and Salem.
• In February, just weeks before the Corona lock-down started, we welcomed a new PhD student from Chile: Balta Zepeda. He will be working on the regulation of traits in Petunia

December 2018:

• It was a great year, have a nice holiday break. Wishing everybody succes, health, luck, love en happiness for 2019!
• Yanxia finished her thesis on Chrysanthemum stomata and vase life, congrats!

November 2018:

• Yuchen finished his minor thesis and is now a Master in Plant Sciences. Congrats!
• We are looking for a thesis student (spring 2019 for 6 months) that is interested in metabolic engineering of secondary metabolites by CRISPR, RNAi, and/or overexpression of target genes. Read more…
• Our Mango paper was accepted! Rob E. Schouten, Shuang Fan, Julian C. Verdonk, Yuchen Wang, Nur M. Kasim, Ernst Woltering and Pol Tijskens. (2018). Mango firmness modelling as affected by transport and ethylene treatments. Frontiers in Plant Science. 20 November 2018

October 2018:

• Mark your calendars!! The VII International Conference Postharvest Unlimited will be held in Wageningen from 18-22 October, 2021. It will be a combination of the following ISHS symposia:
  – VII International Conference Postharvest Unlimited
  – VIII International Conference on Managing Quality in Chains
  – XII International Symposium on Postharvest Quality of Ornamental Plants
• The Postharvest central website is live!
• We hosted the 5th edition of the Postharvest Technology Course. A joint effort between Wageningen Academy, Food and Bio based Research, and Horticulture and Product Physiology. Read the full blog post about the course.

Sept 2018:

• New students: Yuhao, Weichen, Dimitris, Vera, and Luka started their thesis
• Lihuan, Luki en Fairda successfully defended their theses, congrats!
• The new GC-MS, we got with Plant Breeding, is now operational!

Julian and Rob and our new GC-MS

Aug 2018:

• Xinxuan and Mejury started their thesis
• Julian got his tenure!

Jul 2018:

• Yuchen successfully defended his thesis, congrats!

June 2018:

• Julian went to the Gordon Research Conference on Carotenoids (June 17 – 22), in Newry, ME, USA

May 2018:

• Sara Abdou started her PhD on pigment biosynthesis in Petunia: ‘Oranje boven‘

April 2018:

• Xueqi and Kostantinos successfully defended their thesis, congrats!
• The gerbera paper of Rob, Julian and Uulke was accepted for publication in Postharvest Biology and Technology.
  Schouten, R.E., Verdonk, J.C., and van Meeteren, U. (2018). Re-evaluating the role of bacteria in gerbera vase life. Postharvest Biology and Technology 143, 1–12.

March 2018:

• Teddy successfully defended his thesis, congrats!

February 2018:

• Rianne successfully defended her thesis, congrats!

January 2018:

• Balie successfully defended his thesis, congrats!

Nov 2017:

• Hua Li started her PhD on Strawberry shelf life

Oct 2017:

• The ‘Oranje Boven‘ proposal was granted! Sara will start may 2018.
• Rob and Julian went to the VI Postharvest Unlimited conference in Madrid with 3 talks and one poster (see publications for details). They were joined by postharvest friends from FBR Suzan Gabriels and Bastiaan Brouwer, with whom they won the bid for the next postharvest conference (VII) in Wageningen. More information will follow. We also met many old and new postharvest friends:
  

  Julian, Brian, Bastiaan, Xiomara, Suzan and Rob in Madrid

• The paper on Cherimoya PPO that Julian CO-authored from his postdoc in Chile was accepted for publication in Plant Science.
  Olmedo, P., Moreno, A.A., Sanhueza, D., Balic, I., Silva-Sanzana, C., Zepeda, B., Verdonk, J.C., Arriagada, C., Meneses, C., and Campos-Vargas, R. (2018). A catechol oxidase AcPPO from cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) is localized to the Golgi apparatus. Plant Science 266, 46–54.

Augustus 2017:

• Julian went to Des Moines, IA, USA for the Kemin World Wide Science Meeting from 26-29 August, followed by a visit to the Maeda lab in Madison, WI, USA.
• Our paper on preharvest and postharvest treatments and Bouvardia quality was accepted for publication in Scientia Horticulturae.
  Schouten, R.E., van Dien, L., Shahin, A., Heimovaara, S., van Meeteren, U., and Verdonk, J.C. (2018). Combined preharvest and postharvest treatments affect rapid leaf wilting in Bouvardia cut flowers. Scientia Horticulturae 227, 75–78.