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Bregje Wertheim new Chairholder Laboratory of Entomology
As of 1 September, research associate Bregje Wertheim has been appointed Chairholder of the Laboratory of Entomology at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). She will be the successor of Professor Marcel Dicke, who is retiring at the end of 2024. Wertheim studied biology at Leiden University, where she became fascinated by the many traits and strategies that insects have developed to survive.
Wertheim will further develop insect research and education in Wageningen, and she can’t wait: “I look forward to working with the various academics at WUR. WUR has very good researchers and lecturers, with wide-ranging areas of expertise,” says Wertheim.
PhD in Wageningen
Wertheim is no stranger to Wageningen. She did her PhD at this university, completing it cum laude in 2001. Wertheim studied why fruit flies use special odour compounds, called aggregation pheromones, to form large groups on rotting fruit, where they subsequently lay their eggs. This behaviour has advantages in overcoming toxic fungi that also grow on that fruit, but also disadvantages such as food competition and attracting parasitoid wasps.
In London, Bregje Wertheim conducted two research projects on fruit flies. In her research, she studied how these insects adapt to their environment through changes in their genes, specifically examining how the immune system of fruit flies functions and evolves to defend them from parasitoid wasps.
After six years as a postdoctoral researcher in London, Bregje Wertheim was awarded a Rosalind Franklin Fellowship to set up her own research group at the University of Groningen. One of the focus areas of her group was how insects are able to adapt to changes in their living environment. She also worked on sustainable methods to control the suzuki fruit fly and was involved in the development of insect farming as a new component of more sustainable agriculture.
‘Through her doctoral research at Wageningen, she already made a significant contribution to her field. We are proud that she will now, with her extensive expertise, experience, and leadership qualities, take on this professorship,’ says Director Richard Harrison from the Plant Sciences Group at WUR.
Improving biodiversity
“Insects are a hugely diverse group of organisms and crucial to almost every ecosystem. However, the numbers and diversity of insects have declined sharply in recent years,” says Wertheim. “As Chairholder at the Laboratory of Entomology, I look forward to expanding research and education on the functioning of insects in ecosystems, both to develop new knowledge on insect biology, and to counter the decline in their biodiversity.”