Geartsje is a PhD candidate working at the intersection of plant science and immunology. Within the research group of Ruud Wilbers at Wageningen University, she is helping build tools to better understand how glycosylation - the sugar molecules attached to proteins - affects the immune system.

Using Hudson River Biotechnology's BioMaas platform, we were able to remove up to six genes in tetraploid Nicotiana benthamiana simultaneously, enabling the production of pharmaceutical proteins free of plant-specific glycans and creating a clean starting point for researchers to introduce defined glycan structures individually.

This gives the Wilbers research group's lab a powerful system to study how different glycans influence protein function, ultimately contributing to the development of improved biopharmaceuticals and more effective vaccines.

It's a great example of how Hudson River innovations in plant biotechnology can accelerate discoveries far beyond agriculture!