At the13^th international symposium on lactic acid bacteria Eunice van Pelt – KleinJan, PhD student in Bas Teusink’s group, won the LABIP poster award for excellent research with industrial relevance. The poster “Proteome constraints shape Lactococcus lactis’ metabolic behaviour” shows that we can understand the changes and choices in energy metabolism that Lactococcus lactis (needed a.o. for Gouda cheese) makes, based on the protein costs and energy yield of the metabolic strategies. As such we could rationalize why certain amino acids are taken up in excess or not at all. The work helps rationalizing how conditions may affect the fermentative behaviour of lactic acid bacteria.