Rachel Begheyn

Experience

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  Wageningen University

  Jan 2011 - Jan 2012

  Full title of the BSc thesis: `In planta production of subunit vaccines with glycosylation designed to target dendritic cells for cis-adjuvant applications'.During a three month research project I worked on transforming tobacco in order to produce a protein with specially designed glycolysation pattern. During the project I used several lab techniques, including growing bacteria, isolating DNA and RNA, PCR, blotting and cation-exchange purification. I succeeded in producing and isolating the protein, and confirmed that it had the desired glycolysation pattern. Show less

  • Website editor BSc Plant Sciences website

    Oct 2010 - Jan 2012

  • BSc thesis "In planta production of subunit vaccins with desinged glycolysation patterns"

    Jan 2011 - Mar 2011
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  Silliker Netherlands B.V.

  May 2011 - Aug 2011

  Analyst

  Analyst in a microbiology laboratory. Part-time job.

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  Louis Bolk Institute

  Jan 2012 - Apr 2012

  Internship Participatory Cotton Breeding

  In January 2012 I visited Uganda for 5 weeks in order to investigate the cotton sector and interview smallholder farmers. Based on the visit, interviews and measurements in Uganda I wrote a report with an overview of current practices in cotton growing and the seed system, comparing organic to conventional farming.

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  Enza Zaden

  Sept 2012 - Mar 2013

  Internship Plant Breeding

  During 5 months I did research in a large diallel trial to study heterosis in unheated greenhouse tomatoes, located at the Enza Zaden research facility in Almería, Spain. I worked on the development and execution of phenotyping protocols, which included the use of digital image analysis, to obtain quailtatively good phenotypic data. The final objective of the project was to combine phenotypic data with genotypic data in order to study heterosis phenomena in the population.

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  Keygene N.V.

  Apr 2013 - May 2013

  Academic consultancy training project "the iBreeder"

  During the academic consultancy project, a course at Wageningen University, 6 students with diverse backgrounds work on a real life project commissioned by a company.With my group I worked on a project commissioned by KeyGene N.V., which involved formulating innovative ideas for an application for mobile devices to be used by plant breeders. During the project we visited 11 breeding companies, several researchers and hardware and software developers to have creative discussions on mobile applications for the breeding sector. Finally we presented our results to KeyGene. Show less

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  Wageningen UR (University & Research centre)

  May 2013 - Oct 2013

  MSc thesis "Interspecific crosses in onion and leek"

  Full title of the MSc thesis: 'Interspecific crosses in leek (Allium ampeloprasum) and onion (Allium cepa) to introgress resistance to a globally significant pest: thrips (Thrips tabaci)'.During the final project of my MSc I researched crossing barriers in interspecific crosses between onion and leek and their wild relatives. These difficult crosses are attempted in order to introgress resistance to thrips (Thrips tabaci). High enough levels of resistance to thrips have not been found in any onion or leek cultivars. Work included a literature study, making crosses, assessing pollen germination, studying pollen tube growth with UV microscopy and ovary and ovule rescue. Show less

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  ETH Zurich

  Apr 2014 - Sept 2017

  PhD in Plant Sciences

  The aim of my PhD project was to develop an efficient method to obtain homozygous lines of the important forage species perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) so that hybrid forage grass breeding can be achieved in the near future. Perennial ryegrass is self-incompatible, so that the common practice of creating homozygotes through repeated selfing is not practically applicable. I have therefore investigated doubled haploid production through in vitro anther culture (androgenesis) to achieve 100% homozygosity in a single generation. Since the response to this technique is highly genotype-specific and high yields of green homozygous plantlet are rare, my research focused on elucidating the genetic control of the response to doubled haploid induction in perennial ryegrass.This project is a cooperation between the Molecular Plant Breeding group at the ETH Zurich and DLF A/S, Denmark.The thesis has been successfully defended in September 2017.Supervision: Prof. dr. Bruno Studer Show less

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  DLF

  May 2014 - Jun 2014

  Doubled haploid production in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)

  During this short secondment, which was a part of my PhD project, I learned the technical tissue culture skills to execute my research and was also able to observe a grass breeding company from within.

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  Tecan

  May 2018 - now

  Product manager of the Fluent platform's software FluentControl, including FluentGx Assurance Software, the Fluent Scheduler, the FluentAPI, the Fluent SiLA2 interface and Sample Tracking. Software support, troubleshooting, classroom and customer on-site training of the Freedom EVO platform's software EVOware, including add-ons such as Touch Tools Suite and the PCR Wizard. Development of e-learning and online trainings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Support and troubleshooting of the Fluent platform's software FluentControl.

  • Product Manager Software

    Apr 2024 - now

  • Associate Product Manager Software

    Jul 2021 - Apr 2024

  • Associate Scientist Product Support and Training

    May 2018 - Jul 2021