category_news
Microbiologist Nico Claassens wins award for metabolic engineering
Wageningen microbiologist Nico Claassens has won the 2025 Jay Bailey Young Investigator Award. The prize recognises young researchers who have made groundbreaking contributions to the field of metabolic engineering, the reprogramming of microbial cellular processes. Associate professor Claassens will receive the award on 18 June, during the international Metabolic Engineering Conference in Copenhagen. He says he is proud to have won: “This award is a great honour. Not just for me, but for all the colleagues and students I work with.”
Claassens is a specialist in improving microbial metabolism. His research group engineers microorganisms into small, sustainable production units by reprogramming their DNA. For instance, they create bacteria that convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) into valuable compounds such as building blocks for bioplastics or dietary proteins. “We want to do better than nature,” Claassens explains. “Sometimes a synthetic system simply works faster or more efficiently.” These genetically modified bacteria help capture CO₂ from the atmosphere and contribute to closing the carbon cycle, while producing useful substances in the process.
From grants to applications
In 2024, Claassens received both a prestigious ERC Starting Grant and a Vidi grant for his research into artificial CO₂ fixation in bacteria. Since then, he has continued to advance fundamental understanding of microbial metabolism and to develop practical applications that support circular biotechnology. He also supervises Master's students during iGEM, an international student competition in synthetic biology, and contributes to a large collaborative project in which researchers aim to build a living cell in the lab.
Jay Bailey Young Investigator Award in Metabolic Engineering
The Jay Bailey Young Investigator Award in Metabolic Engineering is presented biennially by the International Metabolic Engineering Society. It is named after biotechnology pioneer Jay Bailey, a visionary in biochemical and metabolic engineering whose work laid the foundation for modern metabolic engineering. Recipients of the award receive a cash prize of $2,000.
Read more about Claassens' research
-
Microbiologist Awarded ERC Starting Grant for Carbon Dioxide Capture Research
- Wageningen microbiologist Nico Claassens has been awarded the prestigious ERC Starting Grant of 1.5 million euros. The European Research Council (ERC) announced the award on 5 September. Over the next five years, Claassens will use this funding to engineer bacteria capable of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, with the potential to convert it into food and biofuels in the future. -
Researchers switch bacterial mini-factories into turbo mode
- A team of scientists has managed to significantly boost the growth of the soil bacterium Cupriavidus necator by modifying its metabolism at the molecular level. Useful, because that boosted bacterium works more efficiently to build valuable products such as bioplastics and chemical building blocks in the future. The results appeared in the scientific journal Nature Microbiology. -
Building Synthetic Life in the Lab
- Transforming lifeless molecules into something living in the laboratory. That is the ambitious goal of Wageningen researchers working with scientists from six other Dutch universities and organisations. They have received the Summit grant of 40 million euros from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to work on this research over the next ten years.