Kevin Beentjes is a project leader at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, and the team lead for the Sequencing team within the ARISE program.
The sequencing team is responsible for the molecular workflows, from single-specimen DNA barcoding to genome sequencing and metabarcoding of complex environmental samples. The Sequencing team cover the entire workflow from DNA extraction to bio-informatic analysis.
Kevin has a background in molecular biology, with a focus on the integration of molecular tools into biodiversity monitoring programs, for which he obtained his PhD at the Leiden University in 2021. He previously worked in the national DNA barcoding campaign to establish a reference database for Dutch animals, plants and fungi.
Keywords
DNA (meta)barcoding, environmental DNA, biomonitoring
Otherprojects
- DNA Waterscan, a PhD program funded by Gieskes-Strijbis Fonds (2016-2021)
- BioMon, a collaboration to develop and apply molecular biomonitoring (2020-current)
- GEANS, a European Interreg project on marine monitoring (2019-current)
- DNA Diatom Biosensor, a TKI project in collaboration with KWR (2020-current)
- Lectoraat Innovatieve Biomonitoring, a lectureship at the HAS Hogeschool (2021-current)
- Lectoraat Metagenomics, a lectureship at the Hogeschool Leiden (2021-current)
Keypublications
- Beentjes KK (2021) From molecules to monitoring: integrating genetic tools into freshwater quality assessments.
https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3158798 - Beentjes KK, Barmentlo SH, Cieraad E, Schilthuizen M, Van der Hoorn BB, Speksnijder AGCL, Trimbos KB (2022) Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals comparable responses to agricultural stressors on different trophic levels of a freshwater community. Molecular Ecology 31:1430-1443.
doi:10.1111/mec.16326 - Beentjes KK, Speksnijder AGCL, Schilthuizen M, Hoogeveen M, Pastoor R, van der Hoorn BB (2019) Increased performance of DNA metabarcoding of macroinvertebrates by taxonomic sorting. PLoS ONE 14:e0226527.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0226527 - Beentjes KK, Speksnijder AGCL, Schilthuizen M, Hoogeveen M, van der Hoorn BB (2019) The effects of spatial and temporal replicate sampling on eDNA metabarcoding. PeerJ 7:e7335.
doi:10.7717/peerj.7335 - Beentjes KK, Speksnijder AGCL, Schilthuizen M, Schaub BEM, van der Hoorn BB (2018) The influence of macroinvertebrate abundance on the assessment of freshwater quality in The Netherlands. Metabarcoding and Metagenomics 2:e26744.
doi:10.3897/mbmg.2.26744