A little while back, Roland Berdaguer succesfully defended his PhD titled: 'The microbial fingerprint of drought: patterns and drivers of microbiome assembly in the rhizosphere of water-stressed plants' at the Laboratory of Plant Physiology at Wageningen University and Research, being guided by co-promotor Dr. Rumyana Karlova and promotor Prof. Dr. Christa Testerink.

This thesis advances our understanding of rhizosphere microbiome assembly under drought through comparative studies between different plants, at three different evolutionary scales. These comparative studies address different research questions: (i) commonalities and differences between different plants, (ii) evolutionary patterns, and (iii) plant mechanisms shaping their microbiome under drought stress.

Roland will remain affiliated to MiCRop during his postdoctoral period at the University of Amsterdam.

Congratulations Roland and good luck with the work ahead!
 

With thanks also to the PhD committee: Prof. Dr. Marnix Medema, Dr. Dorota Kawa, Prof. Dr. Jos Raaijmakers, Dr. Desalegn Etalo.
Roland was supported during this journey by paranymphs: Zulema Carracedo Lorenzo and Jeroen Busscher.