- Marlinde Gjaltema
Hello everyone, let me introduce myself!
I am Marlinde Gjaltema, the new lab technician at Rinagro in Leeuwarden. I started on April 22nd this year.
I am 28 years old and originally from Apeldoorn. I have two brothers, an older brother who lives in Groningen and a younger brother who still lives in Apeldoorn.
At home I currently have 3 axolotls as pets. Now you might be wondering “Marlinde, what is an axolotl?”. An axolotl is a newt with a genetic defect called neoteny. This allows this species to live in the water forever. They live an average of 10 years, mine are currently 7, 4 and 3 years old.
Furthermore, I have a cat since mid-May! A castrated male cat of 5 years old named Cooper. He is a sweetheart but also absolutely a hero in socks.
In my free time I like to do hobbies of course. I like to draw a lot and sometimes also to write! I hope to have time to write a book series one day.
Furthermore you can also find me in costume at some events, where I wear a dragon costume.
I graduated from Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences in July 2024. During my studies, I did internships at Eurofins (Heerenveen), Izore (now called Certe ), the University of Groningen and the UMCG. After my studies, I was looking for work and was approached by Rinagro. After a few interviews, I was allowed to start here! I have a great passion and also some knowledge about nature, whereby I can immediately recognize a number of plant and animal species.
I hope to have a nice time here doing research that will help both nature and the farmer. If you have any questions about ongoing research, feel free to drop me a line!
Oh and my favorite color is (light) blue 😉