Droevendaalsesteeg 10
6708 PB Wageningen
The Netherlands
Pieter van 't Hof
Social
About
The synergy between functional macroecology and molecular microbiology fascinates me. My work revolves around plant microbiomes in diverse South American landscapes at latitude 0° like the Andean highlands, the Amazon rainforest, and the Galápagos Islands
Biography
After his MSc degrees in Ecology and Plant Biotechnology at Wageningen University (The Netherlands), Pieter van ’t Hof obtained his PhD degree in Plant Biology from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), studying the functional characterization of the important defense protein PR-1, which confers plant resistance against (a)biotic stresses and/or diseases.
Since 2016, he is an associate professor at the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), in Ecuador. Besides his courses in the BSc and MSc programs at the USFQ campus in the capitol Quito, he also regularly teaches International Education Programs at the GAIAS campus located at the Galapagos Islands. Furthermore, he is an affiliated researcher of the Galapagos Science Center, and the Tiputini Biodiversity Station which is situated in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
In Ecuador, Pieter and his research team have developed multidisciplinary research lines that integrate functional macroecology with molecular microbiology, focusing on the microbial ecology of emblematic species in diverse landscapes. For instance, one project focused on how the domestication process has shaped the diversity, structure, and functional potential of the root-associated tomato microbiome in the center of origin in the Andean highlands. Other projects revolve around the diversity of mycorrhizal fungi which establish beneficial relationships with the genus Inga in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. Furthermore, he and his team have executed multiple scientific expeditions at the Galapagos Islands, aiming to discover the microbial communities that associate with the genera Scalesia and Solanum on both inhabited and uninhabited Islands of this unique archipelago.
The defense of Dr. Stalin Sarango Flores of his PhD dissertation entitled “Microbial footprints of tomato domestication”, who was jointly supervised by NIOO-KNAW (co)promotors Prof. dr. Jos Raaijmakers, dr. Viviane Cordovez, and dr. Ben Oyserman, marks the beginning of Pieter van ‘t Hof’s Honorary Fellowship 2026-2029 at NIOO-KNAW.
Please do not hesitate to reach out with ideas for new collaborations, scientific expeditions, outreach, or international teaching programs.
CV
Employment
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PresentHonorary Fellow, Department of Microbial Ecology, NIOO-KNAW, The Netherlands
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2018–PresentAssociated Researcher, Galapagos Science Center, San Cristobal, Galapagos, Ecuador
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2017–PresentUniversity Teacher, International Programs USFQ, GAIAS - Galápagos Institute of the Arts and Sciences, Campus San Cristobal, Galapagos, Ecuador
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2016–PresentAssociate Professor and Researcher, College of Biological and Environmental Sciences (COCIBA), Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Quito, Ecuador
Education
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2011–2016PhD Plant Biology (Universite de Fribourg, Switzerland)
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2009–2010MSc Plant Biotechnology (Wageningen University, The Netherlands)
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2002–2005MSc Ecology (Wageningen University, The Netherlands)
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1999–2002BSc Biology (Wageningen University, The Netherlands)
PhD students
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2022–PresentIván Astudillo-Estévez
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2019–2026Stalin Sarango Flores
Invited talks and keynote addresses on symposia and conferences
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2024SOL2024 / XIX International Solanaceae Conference
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202561st Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC2025)