Laudatio Dr. Carel Windt

The annual Gorter NMR-DG thesis award is yearly given to the best Ph.D. thesis in the area of magnetic resonance spectroscopy and/or magnetic resonance imaging of the preceding two calendar years. The purpose of the Award is to provide recognition to young scientists in The Netherlands who have performed thesis work of outstanding scientific quality. Criteria for the award are innovation, methodology, scientific scope/impact and the presentation of the Ph.D. research in the thesis.

This year, 2009, the jury has awarded the prize to Dr. Carel Windt.
As a Ph.D. student under supervision of Dr. Henk van As of Wageningen University, he has investigated long-distance sap flow within the delicate vascular tissues in intact plants with magnetic resonance imaging, and made important discoveries about aspects that were only assumed until now. He was able to measure – for the first time – both xylem flow, i.e. water transport from the roots, and, phloem, i.e. the slow transport of viscous glucose solution from the leaves to the fruits in tomato plants. He discovered that the xylem-flow conducting area is not constant but varies with time. Furthermore, he was able to determine the xylem–to-phloem flow ratio in tomato trusses, which is more difficult than in the stem, because the two flows are parallel. A proper balance between the two flows in tomato trusses determines the taste of the tomatoes, which can be a useful control parameter for tomato growers.

Furthermore, he has developed a time-efficient NMR method to measure flow-encoded T2 relaxation in imaging mode. In addition to his NMR expertise Dr. Windt has excellent knowledge of in plant science. His enthusiasm for developing plant NMR methods is also testified by his current research on portable NMR equipment for measurements in the field, which he carries out as a postdoc in Jülich.

Finally, his thesis is clearly written and illustrated in a way that is also very understandable to non-experts in Magnetic Resonance Imaging.