Welcome to the official blog of the HYDROCOW Project!
Here, you’re invited to follow our Behind the Hydrocow series—a behind-the-scenes look at the people, ideas, and innovations driving our work. In this series, team members from across the HYDROCOW consortium share their personal perspectives on what they do, how they do it, and why it matters. Whether it’s hands-on lab work, complex computational modeling, or anything in between, each post opens a window into the diverse expertise and collaboration that power the project.
Follow along as we explore the people and ideas behind the future of milk!
Bachelor Research Project with Sofie the Bacterium: Tiny Microbe, Big Potential for Sustainable Dairy
On the seventh floor of the University of Groningen's biology building, everyone seems to be talking about "Sofie." But Sofie isn’t a student or a scientist—she’s a hydrogen-oxidizing bacterium at the heart of an exciting research project. As part of their Bachelor Research Project, Sara Khong and Eliza Zylstra have been working with Xanthobacter sp. SoF1, affectionately nicknamed Sofie, to explore how it might one day produce milk proteins from just CO₂ and hydrogen—paving the way for more sustainable food production. Now, they share their experiences in the second chapter of the Behind the HYDROCOW blog series!
Not all scientists wear lab coats: Inside the digital engine room of HYDROCOW
When people think of biotech research, they often picture pipettes, petri dishes, and lab coats. But in the Behind the Hydrocow series, we’re here to show you that not all breakthroughs happen at the lab bench. In this post, Samira van den Bogaard takes us into the world of computational biology—where code meets cells, and where a powerful model can save months of lab work. Welcome to the other side of HYDROCOW, where microbes are engineered not in test tubes, but in lines of code.