About

I did my Bachelors in Bioscience Engineering at KU Leuven followed by a Masters program in Cellular and Genetic Engineering. During this program, I learned about bacteriophages and their incredible application potential in biotech - I was sold. I decided to join the group of prof. R. Lavigne and studied small phage proteins and how they change the bacterial metabolism.

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For my PhD, I continued to work with Prof. Lavigne and Dr. J. Wagemans and shifted to bacterial plant diseases. I looked at the potential of phages to prevent hairy root disease in tomato, black rot in cabbage, bacterial blight in leek and lettuce working closely with Dr. J. Van Vaerenbergh and Dr. M. Maes. Because of the valorization potential of my research, I collaborated with different international companies and independent research facilities ​(Inagro, PCG, PSKW - Be and IPSP - It).

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After this applied research project, I wanted to explore a more fundamental research program and joined the group of Prof. B. Koskella at UC Berkeley. Here, I'm currently studying the interaction between phages and their host and how phages shape disease ecology in the pear tree phyllosphere using fire blight as a model system.  

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