Team

Prof. Dr. Kristina Haslinger

Principle Investigator/ Assistant Professor

Kristina studied Biology in Würzburg, Germany and obtained her PhD in 2014 from Heidelberg university. She did her postdoctoral training in Kristala Prather’s lab at MIT and started her position in Groningen in February 2020. When her eyes aren’t glued to protein structures or scientific literature, she enjoys hiking and biking with her family.

Ika Qurrotul Afifah

PhD candidate

Ika completed her bachelor degree in Chemistry at Universitas Airlangga and her master degree in Biotechnology Institut Teknologi Bandung Indonesia, where she studied the gene encoding an enzyme involved in terpenoid biosynthesis. She joined the Haslinger group in February 2025 to investigate the role of fungal biosynthetic gene clusters supported by a scholarship from BIB-LPDP (Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education Agency).

Jessie Chen

PhD candidate

Jessie obtained her B.Sc. Biology, majoring in Ecology and Evolution, and her M.Sc. in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Groningen. Her research experience spans insect reproductive genetics, host–symbiont interactions, and the evolutionary genomics of Wolbachia-induced parthenogenesis. She joined the Haslinger group in October 2025 as part of the NWO-funded FunCTion project to investigate the potato tuber mycobiome, focusing on isolating and characterizing endophytic fungi and probing their chemical communication to design fungal communities that enhance plant resilience. Outside the lab, she’s an enthusiastic collector of hobbies, from taxidermy and entomology to crochet and drawing. 

Ercan Dursun

PhD candidate

Ercan completed his master’s degree in the biochemistry department of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey, with the study “Investigation of the effects of parsley (Petroselinum Crispum) extract on brain and intestinal damage induced by methotrexate”. He is awarded a scholarship from the Turkish Ministry of Education to complete his doctoral program at the University of Groningen and will afterwards return to Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa as a tenured academic. He joined the Haslinger group in January 2024 to engineer stable protein variants as drugs for lung regeneration, which is a joint project with Prof. Dr. Reinoud Gosens in translational pharmacology. His favorite activities are charcoal drawing,  salsa and bachata dancing in his free time.

Felipe Geremia

PhD candidate

Felipe Geremia obtained his B.Sc. in Biotechnology and his M.Sc. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. During his studies, he gained experience in microbial biotechnology, microbiology, bioinformatics, and synthetic biology. Felipe joined the Haslinger group in May 2025 to engineer microbial cell factories for the production of aromatic meroterpenoids. His hobbies include coffee brewing, playing chess, and playing tennis.

Friso Geertsma

PhD candidate

Friso obtained his Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. His thesis involved engineering of Vanillyl alcohol oxidase (VAO) from Penicillium simplicissimum to synthesize β1 agonists. Friso joined the Haslinger group in Februari 2025 to discover and express fungal enzymes for the synthesis of compounds with pharmaceutical value using computational and rational means. Outside of research, his hobbies include fiction writing, reading, fitness and boardgames.

Xiao Li

PhD candidate

Xiao obtained her B.Sc. in Chinese Materia Medica (2014-2018) and M.Sc. in Chemistry of Chinese Materia Medica (2018-2021) at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine in China, where she worked on structural characterization and biological activity evaluation of polysaccharides and secondary metabolites isolated from medicinal plants. In July 2022, she joined the Haslinger group to explore potential ways to activate biosynthetic gene clusters of endophytic fungi from medicinal plants to produce natural products with pharmaceutical values.

Ziwei Wang

PhD candidate

Ziwei obtained her Master’s degree in Biology from Hubei University in China, where she was mainly engaged in the modification and application of recombinant FAD-containing oxidases. She joined the Haslinger group in November 2023 to study the screening of fungal enzymes for the synthesis of products with pharmaceutical value. Her hobbies are traveling, hiking and reading.