Science - March 18, 2011
5000th doctoral degree in Wageningen
When Alireza Seifi successfully defends his PhD thesis today under Prof. Richard Visser of the Laboratory of Plant Breeding, the 5000th doctoral degree will be conferred in Wageningen. The rector, Martin Kropff, will chair the degree ceremony.
Alireza Seifi from Iran typified genes which would make the tomato resistant against the 'powdery mildew' disease. He evaluated the resistance of four sets of genes in wild tomatoes.
His supervisor, Richard Visser, is one of the professors with the most PhD graduates in the past years, having supervised 32 candidates since 2006. The top scorer is microbiologist Willem de Vos, with forty graduates to his credit. De Vos also heads the 'list of all times' with 88 PhD graduates over the years.