Microbiome ecology professor Ákos Kovács' new job feels like coming home
‘Working in Leiden is a dream come true.’ Ákos Kovács studied in his birth country Hungary and worked in Germany, Denmark and Groningen. As professor of Microbiome Ecology at IBL, he immediately started working together with his new colleagues to make discoveries about the versatile bacterial species Bacillus subtilis.
Ákos Kovács soon felt at home in his new working environment. ‘I really appreciate the warm welcome by many of my new colleagues.’ Kovács already started collaborations despite arriving practically during the summer break to Leiden. ‘With Paco Barona Gomez’s group on chemistry and Véronique Ongenae, Ariane Briegel and Dennis Claessen on cryoEM we started purifying a colored metabolite from a fungus that is produced when challenged with bacteria. The first cryo-electron microscopy images have been obtained to dissect a bacterial cell shape change.’
Trading minerals for sugar
The bacterium Kovács studies, Bacillus subtilis, has been used for decades to study differentiation, physiology and gene regulation, and to produce enzymes. ‘We only recently discovered that it can also enhance plant growth very well. As a rhizobacterium, it exchanges phosphate and specialized metabolites with the plant roots for sugars that the plant makes. This bacterium can also work well as a probiotic. The bacterial species forms biofilms: slimy layers full of micro-organisms attached to a surface. If we know more about the interactions between the bacteria, what substances they make, how they do so and how they evolve in those biofilms, we can figure out how to use them as biologicals.’
A dream came true
Why is the Hungarian Kovács, doing his work precisely in Leiden? 'Working in Leiden is a dream come true. Just under a century ago, botanist and microbiologist Lourens Baas Becking formulated his hypothesis here: “Everything is everywhere, but the environment selects.” That is exactly what my research on environmental microbiomes is about. The Institute of Biology Leiden provides a unique environment to investigate fundamental questions around microbial ecology, evolution and specialised metabolite production. And a lot of research is taking place on biodiversity and plant-microbe interactions.’
Kovács cannot believe his luck. To top it off, he was also recently asked to be senior editor of ISME Journal,
a leading journal in microbial ecology, affiliated to the International Society for Microbial Ecology. ‘A great honour to get involved in the evaluation of excellent research in my field.’
Cycling to work
Returning to the Netherlands feels completely natural for the professor. His two daughters were born here while he was working in Groningen. And he cycles to work: ‘We found a house near Leiden, where we are close to nature and the sea, but can also take a refreshing bike ride to the Bio Science Park and the Campus. Returning to the Netherlands feels like we never left. My family is enthusiastic, my daughters are adapting amazingly well in their new environment with a new language and a new school system. I myself will soon pick up my hobby again: I will join a diving club.’
Text: Rianne Lindhout