Martin is part of the ecotoxicology group, where he is working on the implementation of eDNA in ecotoxicological research as both a tool to study community effects, as well as a predictive tool to gain insight in the state of a community.

More information about Martin van der Plas

Professional experience

Martin graduated in 2016 from his BSc and in 2019 from his MSc, both at Leiden University. During his Bachelors degree at Leiden University, Martin focused mostly on ecology and related fields. During his MSc, he switched to the molecular side of biology and obtained a degree in molecular genetics and biotechnology.

During his MSc, he partook in two research internships. The first internship was on the prevalence of psittacine beak and feather disease in ring-necked parakeets in the Netherlands, through the barcoding of scat samples for the presence of the beak and feather disease virus. The second internship was on the development of myelin in early invertebrates, where he used different early vertebrate species in different stages of their development for nerve tissue staining and RNA transcriptomics.

After graduating, Martin worked as a research assistant at Naturalis Biodiversity Center on sponge barcoding and at the Institute of Environmental Science in Leiden on the monitoring of the invasive D. bugensis in Rijnland through eDNA samples.

Research topic

Martin is working on the implementation of eDNA in ecotoxicology. His goal is to explore the usefulness and effectiveness for it as a tool to study effects of stressors such as nanoparticles on community composition, and to what extend it can be used as a predictive tool in ecotoxicological studies.