Meet Charlotte Koster
Charlotte Koster
Rumor has it I am the first (postdoc) starting in EVOLF!
Hi, I am Charlotte Koster (she/her) and rumor has it I am the first (postdoc) starting in EVOLF!
I have a bit of an advantage here, as I’m a synthetic cell veteran by now. I performed my PhD research at TU Delft in the BaSyC consortium under the supervision of Pascale Daran-Lapujade. Here, I worked on genome assembly methods and researched the compact and minimal mitochondrial genome of yeast as an inspiration for minimal synthetic genomes. After obtaining my PhD, I left BaSyC but didn’t go far: I joined the lab of John van der Oost and Nico Claassens at Wageningen University as a postdoc to investigate non-coding genetic factors that influence protein production yields, which was a spin-out project from another BaSyC research line. Although I was still closely involved in BaSyC, I missed being in the center of the synthetic cell research. So, when I got the opportunity to join EVOLF as a postdoc in the same lab, I immediately accepted: improving protein production in cells is fun, but doing so in synthetic cells is even more exciting!
The next 2,5 years, I will work together with John, Nico, and of course the BaSyC and EVOLF team at the WUR and outside to establish and design synthetic gene expression systems or operons for our synthetic cell.
Coincidentally, many of my hobbies involve building things from the bottom up: I’m generally crafty and like to sew clothes, paint/draw and cook/bake nice food, and like to be involved in grassroots activism. I enjoy going to concerts and festivals, I’ve played field hockey my entire life, and I enjoy bouldering, cycling or bundling up on the couch with a good movie or video game. I also have some work-related hobbies: I can’t stop talking about my research and therefore do a lot of science communication and I always try to be somehow involved in iGEM. I participated eons ago, but still supervise or consult teams and regularly judge at the iGEM jamboree. I’m looking forward to participating and collaborating in EVOLF and excited to build a cell together!