Mind, Mood, Microbes:

The Science of Gut Feelings

​For more, see www.mindmoodmicrobes.org

About Laura:

From both a personal and professional point of view, I am pursuing the Human Potential. My aim is to enhance and optimize (cognitive) performance in healthy and safe ways. I believe this is important in dealing with the demands of our environment, which contributes to well-being and happiness.

​Last summer, supported by a KNAW van der Gaag Scholarschip (2017), I visited the Emotions and Quantitative Psychophysiology lab at The Ohio State University in the United States. In August, supported by an NWO Veni grant, I moved back to where it all started (Leiden University, Cognitive Psychology). Here, together with (national and international) collaborators and a number of amazing assistants and students, we investigate how gut bacteria influence physiological processes, our brains, and subsequent behavior, and how we may use that to enhance our well-being. For this work, I was recently awarded the Young Scientist award from the European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 

The research I am currently conducting is funded by a Veni grant received from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; 2018), a Talent Grant from Amsterdam Brain and Cognition (2017), and a public-private Enabling Technologies Hotels grant from ZonMw (2017).

My current location:
Foto
Photo by Heleen Klop
I love sharing my experience, knowledge, and ideas, and giving people food for thought (see more under 'Outreach & Media'). For example, in 2017/2018, together with Coen Verbraak, Patrick van Hees, and Jan Kuipers, I performed in a number of theaters in the Netherlands as part of our theater lecture series "Op Zoek naar Geluk".

​A combination of these outreach and scientific efforts resulted in me ending up in the top 25 'New Scientist Wetenschapstalent' election from the Dutch New Scientist.  In addition, Dutch women's magazine Viva nominated me as one of the 400 most inspiring and ambitious women of 2018 (the Viva400 list) and in January 2019, I was one of the speakers at TEDxAlkmaar on Designing (Y)our Future. ​