THE PROPOSITION

PhD candidates explain the most thought-provoking proposition from their thesis. This time, a proposition from Tom Theeuwen, who obtained a PhD in Plant Science on 24 February. He studied the cyto-nuclear interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) to improve photosynthesis.

surgery’, the medical term for weight-loss operations.

A pregnancy shortly after a stomach operation poses risks. ‘When women are pregnant, we actually want them to gain weight. But these women are in the weight loss phase,’ says Heusschen. If the weight gain during pregnancy is insufficient, this can lead to malnourishment in the mother and is associated with premature births and low birth weight. Pregnancies after this operation tend to result in a lower birth weight anyway, ‘so you have a double risk,’ says Heusschen. Now Heusschen has a postdoc position where she will study how the children of women who had stomach surgery grow up. ‘We know from previous research that children with low birth weight are at a greater risk of obesity in later life, but we don’t know if that is also the case for the children of these women. It would be rather sad if these women get stomach surgery to tackle their obesity and as a result have children with low birth weight who in turn have a greater risk of obesity. If that is case, we need to figure out how to break the vicious circle.’ dv