VAN DER GIEZEN

laboratory
Group photo, February 2024: Mark van der Giezen, Katrine Michelsen Kirkeby, Karlijn van Dijk, Hedvig Svensson, Yohannes Seyoum, Vera Sideraki, Rey Toleco, Chikwe Chukwudiegwu Mbachu; absent: Ankana Banerjee and Jonathan Særvoll Heidema.
February 2024. From left: Mark van der Giezen, Katrine Michelsen Kirkeby, Karlijn van Dijk, Hedvig Svensson, Yohannes Seyoum, Vera Sideraki, Rey Toleco, Chikwe Chukwudiegwu Mbachu, and Luz Martinez Contreras (absent: Ankana Banerjee and Jonathan Særvoll Heidema).

Group leader

Professor Mark van der Giezen

Professor of Biological Chemistry, University of Stavanger. He will shortly join the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich as Professor and Associate Director for Research and Knowledge Exchange ·

My research explores intestinal microbiology and how microbial eukaryotes adapt biochemically to life in the gut of humans and animals. I completed my PhD at the University of Groningen (Netherlands) before moving to London for postdoctoral research at the Natural History Museum and Royal Holloway, University of London. There, I studied the evolution and biochemistry of anaerobic microbes, including those living in the human intestine.

I went on to hold academic positions at Queen Mary University of London and the University of Exeter, where I became Associate Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry. During this time, my work expanded to include livestock and aquaculture microbiomes, intestinal parasites, and the role of microbes in both human and animal health — combining evolutionary biology with applied research.

In 2019, I moved to Norway to join the University of Stavanger as Professor of Biological Chemistry. There, I set up a research programme on intestinal protists in collaboration with clinical partners at the academic hospital and introduced several teaching innovations within the MSc Biological Chemistry programme.

I will shortly join the University of Greenwich as Professor and Associate Director for Research and Knowledge Exchange at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), where I will lead interdisciplinary research on host–microbe–environment interactions across human, animal, and environmental systems, and help shape NRI’s research strategy, grant development, and academic mentoring.

I also keep a part-time affiliation with the University of Stavanger to continue supporting my PhD students and ongoing research projects.

CV Mark van der Giezen

Postdoctoral scientists

Dr Yohannes Seyoum

This project brings together expertise in intestinal disease, clinical histopathology and intestinal molecular microbiology. Stavanger University Hospital has been involved in clinical trials on inflammatory bowel disease (led by Tore Grimstad). Funded by the Research Council of Norway; jointly supervised by Professors Emiel Janssen and Tore Grimstad.

PhD students

MitchellRey Toleco

Mitochondrial biochemical peculiarities of the intestinal parasite Blastocystis. Funded by the Research Council of Norway; collaborations with Edmund Kunji (Cambridge), Tasos Tsaousis (Canterbury) and Pieter van West (Aberdeen).

Ankana Banerjee

Clinical histopathology and intestinal molecular microbiology in IBD, in collaboration with Stavanger University Hospital (Tore Grimstad). Funded by the Research Council of Norway.

Karlijn van Dijk

Treatment-driven colitis and impacts on the intestinal microbiome; collaboration with Oncology and Pathology at Stavanger University Hospital (Emiel Janssen). Funded by the Research Council of Norway.

Jeff Tomiak

UiS PhD student based at Statens Serum Institut (Copenhagen) with Rune Stensvold; focusing on intestinal microbiome analyses in the DanFunD cohort, and collaborating with Allan Linneberg (Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Copenhagen).

Marie Pažoutová

Based at the Institute of Parasitology, České Budějovice (Czechia) with collaborators Martin Kolísko and Kateřina Jirků; exploring protective roles of Blastocystis in rodent models.

Petra Tláskalová

Starting at the Institute of Parasitology, České Budějovice (Czechia) with Martin Kolísko and Kateřina Jirků.

MSc students

Junia Raquel Lima Nunes

MSc student at NordicDX developing novel diagnostics relevant for human and animal disease.

Renate Paulsen Nygård

MSc student at NordicDX developing novel diagnostics relevant for human and animal disease.

Alumni