Inge van Frankenhuijzen

From a young age, I have dreamed of living in a forest surrounded by the organisms that make up the world around us. This fascination led me to study Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology in Leiden, where I gained a deeper understanding of how life works on a molecular level. 

During internships in the rainforests in Borneo, I had the opportunity to indeed live among many living organisms in highly diverse ecosystems. I was involved in a project that measured the impact of reforestation on biodiversity. Another research internship of my master’s was about the effects of future climate change on net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide in heathlands. For this, I traced isotopes in state-of-the-art field labs that simulate future climate scenarios. These experiences inspired me to studying how environmental changes affect ecosystem functions.

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Now, I am excited to be applying my growing knowledge to a PhD project supervised by Dr. Sofia Gomes in the group of Above Belowground Interactions. My research is focussing on how urbanization stressors affect tree-microbe interactions – particularly the symbiosis between trees and mycorrhizal fungi in soil. By integrating fieldwork, tree-growth experiments, and advanced lab techniques, I hope to uncover how these interactions are influenced by environmental stress.

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When I am not working, I enjoy spending time outdoors – whether it is running long distances, or just walking, photographing, or sketching anything what I encounter. Besides biology, I am also interested in linguistics and learning new sports.