Center for Molecular Medicine
Alumni
2011 - 2010 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2001 - 2000
2011
Dr. Melissa McNeely, PhD
defended her PhD in Medical Sciences on December 14th with a dissertation on Targetting integration: understanding and exploiting LEDGF/p75 as the molecular teher for HIV-1 integration. Her supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser and her co-supervisor Dr. Rik Gijsbers. She started as a pre-doctoral student in 2005 and worked in our lab as a PhD-student from 2007 till 2011. Before starting in Leuven she had already four years of experience as a research technologist in the lab of Prof. Patricia Spear, Northwestern Universtiy Medical School, Chicago, IL.
1997-2001 B.S. in Genetics and Microbiology, University of Georgia
2006 Certificate of Medical Sciences, Katholieke Universteit Leuven (summa cum laude)
2008-2010 Fellowship of the Association Française contre le Myopathies
2006-2007 Fellowship of the Belgian American Educational Foundation
Dr. Caroline Vandeputte, PhD
defended her PhD in Medical Sciences on June 28th with a dissertation on the Molecular Imaging of a Preclinical Model of Stroke: Functional Evaluation and Stem Cell Therapy. Her supervisor was prof. Koen Van Laere and her co-supervisors prof. Veerle Baekelandt and Catherine Vervaillie. She worked part-time in our lab as a PhD-student from 2006 till 2011.
2002-2006 Master in Biomedical Sciences, K.U.Leuven (magna cum laude)
2008-2011 I.W.T. fellow
Currently she continues her research at the Division of Nuclear Medicine.
Dr. Bavo Heeman, PhD,
defended his PhD in Medical Sciences on June 17th with a dissertation on the role of PINK1 in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease . His supervisor was prof. Veerle Baekelandt and her co-supervisors prof. Zeger Debyser and dr. Chris Van den Haute. He worked in the lab as a PhD student from 2005 till 2011.
2000-2001 Bachelor in Kinesiology and rehabilitation sciences, K.U.Leuven (magna cum laude)
2001-2003 Bachelor in Biomedical Sciences, K.U.Leuven (summa cum laude)
2003-2005 Master in Biomedical Sciences, K.U.Leuven (magna cum laude)
2005-2009 FWO-scholarship
2009 Internship at Radboud University, Nijmegen (the Netherlands).
Currently he works as a compliance scientist at Alcon Belgium, Puurs.
2010
Dr. Jaan Toelen, MD, PhD,
defended his PhD in Medical Sciences on December 9th with a dissertation on the Development of a mouse model for gene therapy in the fetal lung using viral vectors. His supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser and his co-supervisor dr. Jan Deprest. He worked as a PhD student in the lab from 2005 till 2010.
1995-2001, Medical Doctor, K.U.Leuven
2001-2008, Clinical training in Paediatrics, K.U.Leuven
2007-2010, IWT-scholarship
He will continue his research in fetal gene therapy as a staff member at the Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital Gasthuisberg.
Dr. Ir. Wannes Thys, PhD,
defended his PhD in Medical Sciences on October 7th with a dissertation on Transportin-SR2 and HIV-1: the road to the nucleus. His supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser and his co-supervisor dr. Frauke Christ. He worked as a PhD student in the lab from 2005 till 2010.
2000-2005, Bio-Engineer in Cell and Genebiotechnology, K.U.Leuven (magna cum laude)
2005-2009, IWT-scholarship
He continues his research in our lab as a post-doctoral researcher.
Dr. Ir. Veronique Daniëls, PhD,
defended her PhD in Medical Sciences on October 4th with a dissertation on the Biochemical and cell biological study of Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2), a kinase linked to Parkinson's Disease. Her supervisor was prof. Veerle Baekelandt and her co-supervisor dr. Jean-Marc Taymans. She worked in the lab as a PhD student from 2006 till 2010.
2001-2006, Bio-Engineer in Agricultural Science, K.U.Leuven (summa cum laude)
2006-2010, FWO-scholarship
After obtaining her PhD she was a post-doctoral research scientist at Babraham Institue in Cambridge, UK from January till May, 2011, and a clinical research associate at Terumo-Europe from May till August 2011. Currently she is a post-doctoral scientist at UCB Pharma.
Dr. Jessika Meuvis, PhD,
defended her PhD in Sciences, Biochemistry on September 8th with a dissertation on The conformation and aggregation kinetics of alpha-synuclein depend on the proline residues in the C-terminal domain. Her supervisor is prof. Yves Engelborghs from the Biodynamics Lab and her co-supervisor prof. Veerle Baekelandt. She worked part-time in our lab as a PhD student from 2005 till 2010.
2001-2003 Bachelor in Chemistry, Hasselt University
2003-2005 Master in Chemistry, K.U.Leuven (cum laude)
She started in August, 2010 as a scientist at Pharmadiagnostics.
Dr. Ir. Greetje Vande Velde, PhD,
defended her PhD in Medical Sciences on April 29th with a dissertation on Reporter gene-based non-invasive imaging in rodent brain. Her supervisor was prof. Veerle Baekelandt and her co-supervisor prof. Zeger Debyser. She worked in the lab as a PhD Student from 2005 to 2009.
1998-2001 Bachelor in Medicine, K.U.Leuven (cum laude)
2001-2005 Master in Bio-Engineering - Cell and Gene Biotechnology (summa cum laude)
She currently works as a research associate at the Biomedical NMR Unit at Faculty of Medicine, K.U.Leuven.
Dr. Jelle Hendrix, PhD,
defended his PhD in Sciences, Biochemistry on March 29th with a dissertation on Confocal spectroscopy in living cells - chromatin and protein interaction of HIV-1 Integrase Co-factor LEDGF/p75. His supervisors were prof. Yves Engelborghs from the Research Group Biomolecular Dynamics, and prof. Zeger Debyser. He worked part-time in the lab as a PhD student from 2005 till 2010.
2001-2003, Bachelor in Chemistry, K.U.Leuven
2003- 2005, Master in Biochemistry, K.U.Leuven (magna cum laude)
2006-2009, IWT-scholarship
He will continue his research in the biophysics field as a post-doctoral researcher under supervision of prof. Johan Hofkens , from the Research Group Photochemistry and Spectroscopy at K.U.Leuven. His collaboration with prof. Engelborghs an prof. Debyser will be continued.
Dr. Arnout Voet, PhD,
Defended his in Sciences, Biochemistry on March 17th with a dissertation on the Development of small molecule protein-protein interaction inhibitors targeting the HIV-1 integrase - LEDGF/p75 complex. His supervisor was Marc De Maeyer and his co-supervisor Zeger Debyser.
2000-2002, Bachelor in Chemistry, K.U.Leuven, Campus Kortrijk
2002-2004, Master in Biochemistry, K.U.Leuven (magna cum laude)
2005-2008, IWT-scholarship
Currently he continues his research as a post-doctoral researcher in the Biomol lab.
2008
Dr. Veerle Reumers, PhD,
Defended her PhD in Medical Sciences on December 19th with a dissertation on Bioluminescence imaging of gene expression and adult neuronal stem cell migration in mouse brain using lentiviral vector technology. Her supervisor was prof. Veerle Baekelandt and her co-supervisor prof. Zeger Debyser. She worked in the lab as a PhD student from 2003 till 2008.
1999 - 2003, Bachelor and Master in Biomedical Sciences, K.U.Leuven (magna cum laude).
2005-2008, IWT-scholarship
Currently she is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Veerle Baekelandt. From september 2010 till August 2011 she performed research at Harvard University.
Dr. Koen Bartholomeeusen, PhD,
Defended his PhD in Medical Sciences on December 12th with a dissertation on LEDGF/p75, interaction partners and chromatin binding. His supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser and his co-supervisors dr. Rik Gijsbers and dr. Frauke Christ. He worked in the lab in Kortrijk from 2003 till 2006 and in Leuven from 2006 to 2008.
1999-2001 Bachelor in Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp.
2001-2003 Master in Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp
After his PhD he started as a postdoctoral researcher in the Peterlin Lab at the University of California in San Francisco.
Defended her PhD in Medical Sciences on October 17th with a dissertation on Characterization of the interaction of HIV-1 integrase and its cellular cofactor LEDGF/p75. Her supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser and her co-supervisors prof. Yves Engelborghs and dr. Frauke Christ. She worked in the lab as a PhD student from 2003 to 2008.
1999-2001, Bachelor in Biomedical Sciences, K.U.Leuven
2001-2003, Master in Biomedical Sciences, K.U.Leuven
2005-2008, IWT-scholarship
She currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the research group PhosphoSites, Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt, Germany. In 2009 she received a postdoctoral grant of the Novartis Foundation to continue her research on Cancer.
Dr. Ir. Luk Vandenberghe, PhD,
Defended his PhD in Medical Sciences on February 11th with a dissertation on The Structural basis of AAV as a Gene therapeutic. His supervisor was Zeger Debyser and his co-supervisors prof. James M. Wilson and prof. Veerle Baekelandt. He worked in the lab of Dr. Wilson at the University of Pennsylvania from 2003 till the end of 2007 with support of the FWO.
Bachelor in Bio-Engineering, K.U.Leuven
Bio-Engineer in Cell and Gene Biotechnology, K.U.Leuven
From May 2008 till August 2010 he continued his research on AAV as Senior Research Investigator and Director, Translational Research, Gene Therapy Program in the lab of prof. Wilson. Currently he works in the department of Ophthalmology.
2007
Defended her PhD in Medical Sciences on 20th December 2007 with a dissertation on Antiviral Resistance development against inhibitors of HIV-1 integration. Her supervisors were prof. Zeger Debyser and prof. Myriam Witvrouw. She worked in the lab from 2004 till the end of 2007 for the European HIV-project TRIoH.
1998-2000, Bachelor in Biology, K.U.Leuven (cum laude),
2000-2002, Master in Biology, K.U.Leuven (magna cum laude),
2002-2003, Course in Tropical Biology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp (magna cum laude),
After her PhD she worked as a research associate with Tibotec, Mechelen, Belgium till 2009. Currently she works for the Virology Division of the Scientific Institute of Public Health.
Prof. Dr. Christophe Deroose, MD, PhD
Defended his PhD in Medical Sciences on 2nd October 2007 with a dissertation on Molecular Imaging of Lentiviral Vector-Mediated Reporter Gene Expression with Positron Emission Tomography and Bioluminiscence Imaging. His supervisor was prof. Luc Mortelmans and his co-supervisors prof. Veerle Baekelandt and prof. Zeger Debyser. He started his PhD in 2002 with a fellowship from the FWO. From 2002 till 2004 he worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab at the University of California and at Stanford University with support of the BAEF and the King Baudouin Fundation. From 2004 he started to work in the Division of Nuclear Medicine and in our lab.
Dr. Deroose recieved the award for Top Basic Science Young Investigator from the Academy of Molecular Imaging in 2003 and the First Place Neuroscience Young Investigator Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine in 2005.
1994-1997, Candidate in Medicine, FUNDP Namur (summa cum laude),
1997-2001, Medical Doctor, K.U.Leuven (summa cum laude),
2001-2002, Clinical training in Internal Medicine,
2006-2008, Clinical training in Nuclear Medicine
After his PhD he became extraordinary visiting lecturer at the Division of Nuclear Medicine, but promoted to part-time assistent professor in 2009.
Dr. Melanie Gérard, PhD
Defended her PhD in Sciences, Biochemistry on May 11th, 2007 with a dissertation on The impact of FK506 binding proteins on the aggregation of alpha-synuclein. She worked part-time as a PhD student in the lab since 2002. Her supervisor was prof. Yves Engelborghs from the Biodynamics Lab and her co-supervisor prof. Veerle Baekelandt.
1998-2000, Bachelor in Chemistry, K.U.Leuven, Campus Kortrijk
(summa cum laude)
2000- 2002, Master in Biochemistry, K.U.Leuven (magna cum laude)
Currently she is continuing her research as a post-doc in the new installed lab for Gene Therapy at the IRC in Campus Kortrijk. She worked from 2008 till 2010 with a post-doctoral grant of the IWT.
Obtained her PhD in Medical Sciences on 20th March 2007 with on Resistance and HIV infection: Resistance development against two new drug candidates and natural variability of the cofactor LEDGF/p75. She worked as a PhD student in the lab from 2001 till 2007. Her supervisor was prof. Myriam Witvrouw, with prof. Zeger Debyser and prof. Eric De Clercq as co-supervisors.
1996-2001, Bio-Engineer in Cell and Genebiotechnology
(magna cum Laude), K.U.Leuven
2002-2006, IWT-scholarship
She is currently working as Clinical Research Associate with Quintiles Belgium, Vilvoorde.
2006
Dr. Jan De Rijck, PhD
Obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences on 29th November 2006 with a dissertation on the Importance of the DNA flap and LEDGF/p75 for HIV-1 replication. He worked as a PhD student in the lab from 2001 to 2006. His supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser.
1997-2001, Master in Biology, K.U.Leuven
2001-2005, IWT-scholarship
Currently he continues his research at MolMed as a post-doctoral researcher.
Dr. Linos Vandekerckhove, MD, PhD.
Obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences on 22nd September 2006 with a dissertation on LEDGF/p75 as a new target for the treatment of HIV infection. He worked as a PhD student in the lab from 2002 to 2006 with support of the IWT. His supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser.
Was awarded during for his research at MolMed several times. Awards MolMed
1991-1998, Medical Doctor (cum laude), K.U.Leuven
1998-1999, Tropical Medicine, Antwerp University
1999-2006, Internal Medicine Specialist
After his PhD he started as an Infectious Disease Specialist at the University of Ghent focussing on HIV and AIDS.
Dr. Martine Geraerts, PhD
Obtained her PhD in Medical Sciences on 6th June 2006 with a dissertation on the Optimization of lentiviral vector technology for gene transfer into adult neuronal stem cells . She worked as a PhD student in the lab from 2001 to 2006. Her supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser.
1997-2001, Master in biomedical sciences (magna cum laude), Free University of Brussels.
2001-2005, IWT-scholarship
After her PhD she immediately started as post-doctoral reseacher at the group of prof. Catherine Verfaillie, the Interdepartemental Stem Cell Institute of the K.U.Leuven. Currently she works as a post-doctoral FWO-fellow at the same lab.
Obtained her PhD in Medical Sciences on 3rd June 2005 with a dissertation on the Analysis of integration of HIV-1 and lentiviral vectors. She worked as a PhD student in the lab from 2000 to 2005. Her supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser.
1995-1998, Bachelor in Medice (magna cum laude), Ghent University
1998-2000, Master in biotechnology (magna cum laude), Ghent University
After obtaining her PhD she continued her research as a postdoctoral HIV researcher at St. George's University of London (2005-2006). After working as a Clinical Research Associate at Boehringer Ingelheim (2006-2007) and a Medical Science Manager at Bristol-Myers Squibb (2007-2008), she worked as a Clinical Research Associate at Eli Lilly (2008-2009). She Currently works as an Experienced Clinical Research Associate at Valesta (since 2008) and GlaxoSmithKline (since 2009).
Dr. Goedele Maertens, PhD
Obtained her PhD in Sciences on 7th February 2005 with a dissertation on HIV-1 integrase in the confocal spotlight: Characterization of HIV-1 integrase and LEDGF/p75 intracellular distribution and dynamics using confocal microscopy and fluorescencecorrelation spectroscopy. She worked as a PhD student part-time in the lab from 2001 to 2003. In 2004 she continued her research at Harvard Medical School in the lab of prof. Alan Engelman. Her supervisor was prof. Yves Engelborghs from the Biodynamics Lab and her co-supervisor prof. Zeger Debyser
Master in Biochemistry, K.U.Leuven
After her PhD she continued her work at Harvard Medical School with Alan Engelman. In 2006 she became a researcher at the Molecular Oncology lab of Gordon Peters, London Research Institute. Since 2009 she works at the Imperial College of London.
Obtained his PhD in Sciences in July 2004 with a dissertation on the Characterization of HIV-1 integrase with fluorescence correlation and cross correlation spectroscopy. He worked as a PhD student part-time in the lab from 2000 to 2004. His supervisor was prof. Yves Engelborghs from the Biodynamics Lab and his co-supervisor prof. Zeger Debyser.
From 2004-2007 he continued his research at the Biodynamics lab as a post-doc and was guest professor at the Katholieke Hogeschool Leuven. After being a postdoc for nearly three years he moved first to the Screening Unit of Ablynx, a biotech company in Brussels, currently he works as Scientist CMC analytics at the same compagny.
Dr. Erwin Lauwers, PhD
Obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences in May 2004 with a dissertation on the Development of new animal models for Parkinson’s disease based on lentiviral vector-mediated overexpression of alpha-synuclein. He worked as a PhD student in the lab from 1999 and as a post doctoral researcher from 2004 till 2006. His supervisor was prof. Veerle Baekelandt and his co-supervisors prof. Zeger Debyser and prof. Bart Nuttin
He is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher in the Research Group Functional Genomics and Proteomics of the Animal Physiology and Neurobiology Section of the Biology Department.
Dr. Johan van Griensven, MD, PhD
Obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences in May 2004 with a dissertation on Gene therapy of AIDS: Genetransfer of antiviral genes into hematopoietic stem cells using lentiviral vectors. He worked as a PhD student in the lab from 1999 till 2003 with a fellowship from the FWO. His supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser
Was awarded for his research with the Glaxo Grant for the Study in Infectiology and Clinical Microbiology in 2000.
1990-1997, Medical Doctor (magna cum laude), K.U.Leuven
1997-2004, Internal Medicine Specialist, K.U.Leuven and Pretoria Academic Hospital
2005-2007, Diploma in Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
From 2004 till 2005 he worked as Clinical Preceptor and HIV expert of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in the Masa ARV Program in Botswana. From 2005 till 2008 he worked for Médecins Sans Frontières and was Head of the HIV Scaling-Up Program of MSF in Rwanda. In 2008 he worked as Consultant for Lux Development and for Family Health International. Currently he is involved in the Leishmania project of the Institute for Tropical Medicine Antwerp, doing basic clinical research on neglected tropical diseases.
Obtained her PhD in Medical Sciences on 27th April 2004 with a dissertation on Lentiviral Vector Technology: Applications for Neuronal Gene Transfer and for the Study of the Molecular Virology of HIV. She worked as a PhD student in the lab from 1998 to 2003. Her supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser and her co-supervisor prof. Veerle Baekelandt.
Bachelor in Medicine, KULeuven - Master in Biochemistry, KULeuven -
MSc Virology, Surrey University, UK
She is currently working at the Katholieke Hogeschool Leuven coordinating research projects in popularisation of science and technology. She is also active as a visual artist. Her work brings images and themes mostly from biomedical research into an aesthetic framework, exploring and exploiting the aesthetic power of DNA-sequences, HIV-viruses and neurons. You may contact her at anje.claeys@gmail.com. www.bioart.eu
Obtained her PhD in Medical Sciences on 16th April 2004 with a Study of HIV-1 resistance against inhibitors of HIV-1 entry and integration. She worked as a PhD student in the lab from 1998 till 2004. Her supervisor was prof. Myriam Witvrouw, with prof. Zeger Debyser and prof. Eric De Clercq as co-supervisors.
1994-1998, Master in biomedical sciences (cum laude), Free University of Brussels.
After her PhD she worked as a Scientific Business Development Manager for LabCorp Clinical Trials, a Pricing and Reimbursement officer for sanofi aventis. Currently she works as a Market Access Manager at Amgen.
Dr. Wim Pluymers, PhD
Obtained his PhD in Sciences on 21th February 2001 with a dissertation on HIV-1 integrase as a target for antiretroviral therapy. He worked as a PhD student in the lab from 1997 to 2001. His supervisor was prof. Zeger Debyser and his co-supervisors prof. Eric De Clercq and prof. Euard Kühn.
Dr. Wim Pluymers continued his research as a post-doctoral fellow of the FWO in the lab of prof. Debyser from 2002-2004 after performing post-doctoral research at the University of Southern California during 8 months in 2001. After his post-doctoral research he worked as Clinical Research Associate at Amgen and as Medical Science Manager Oncology/Hematology at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Currently he works as Scientific (Medical) Advisor at Novartis.
Dr. Peter Cherepanov, PhD
Obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences in November 2000 with Studies on HIV-1 Integrase: from the test tube to the living cell. He worked as a PhD student in the lab from 1995 till 2000 as a postdoc from 2001 till 2004. His supervisors were prof. Zeger Debyser and prof. Eric De Clercq.
In 2004 he continued his work at Harvard Medical School at prof. Alan Engelman's lab. In 2006 he started as a senior lecturer at the Division of Medicine at the Imperial College of London. Currently he is Reader in Virology at the same institution.