Meet the team!
Joleen Masschelein
Group Leader - VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology
Associate Professor - KU Leuven Department of Biology
Joleen Masschelein has an M.Sc. in Bioscience Engineering (2009) and obtained her PhD in 2015 under the guidance of Prof. Rob Lavigne, Chris Michiels and Abram Aertsen at KU Leuven. She was subsequently awarded a Marie-Sklodowska Curie Individual Fellowship from the European Commission to join the group of Prof. Greg Challis in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick. In 2017, she moved to the Laboratory for Medicinal Chemistry at KU Leuven as a postdoctoral research fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders. In 2020, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology at KU Leuven and as a Group Leader at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology. In 2025, she was promoted to Associate Professor. She is also a Visiting Professor at the Tianjin Institute for Industrial Biotechnology in China. In 2023, she was awarded an ERC Starting Grant and in 2025 she won the EFMC Prize for a young Chemical Biologist/Medicinal Chemist in Academia. She currently serves on the editorial advisory board for the journal Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology and previously served as a member of the early career advisory board for JACS Au (2023).
Administrative Support
Technical Support
Postdoctoral Research Fellows
PhD Students
Msc Students
Alumni
Postdoctoral Research Fellows
Postdoctoral Research Fellows
Dr. Angus Weir
currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the lab of Prof. Ben Davies at the University of Oxford, UK
Dr. Sofie Dekimpe
currently pursuing an additional Master of Educational Studies at KU Leuven
Dr. Anna Katharina Atanasoff-Kardjalieff
currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow at BOKU University, Austria
Dr. Frédéric Lauber
currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the lab of Prof. Charles Vanderhenst
Dr. Eveline Vriens
PhD students
PhD students
Dr. Thomas Lathouwers
currently Team Leader Sterilization Technology at Pfizer
Dr. Sofie Dekimpe
went on to become a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Masschelein lab
Dr. Eveline Vriens
currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Masschelein lab
Dr. Mahmoud Naser Aldine
Dr. Ruben Maes
currently Research Manager at the Royal Higher Institute for Defence
Shamal Withanage
currently Scientist Synthetic Biology at Bactobio
Alejandro Segurado
currently Strain Development Lead at Bioextrax AB
Luka Van den Berghe
currently Team Lead Strain Engineer at Cambrium
MSc students
MSc students
Loes Temmerman
currently Production Engineer at Pfizer
Delphine Segaert
currently pursuing a Degree in Dentistry at Ghent University
Eva Wigerinck
currently Project Engineer Spatial Biology at KU Leuven
Ruben De Roeve
currently Associate Scientist at Sanofi Belgium
Eveline-Marie Lammens
went on to obtain a PhD with Prof. Rob Lavigne at KU Leuven, currently Senior specialist L&D at Organon
Valentin Colpaert
currently QA Compliance Engineer at Alcon
Jelle Dillen
went on to obtain a PhD with Prof. Sarah Lebeer at the University of Antwerp, currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the same lab
Ruben Degroote
currently Quality Engineer at 3DSystems
Cato Pluym
currently Analytical Development Specialist at Sanofi
Neeve Marien
currently a PhD student in the Biomolecule Design Group at the University of Hasselt
Evi Gorrens
currently Supply Chain Young Graduate at Janssen Pharmaceutica
Elke Vereecke
currently a PhD student at the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Ilvo)
Antoine A. Ruzette
currently co-founder of the company Timper
Alannah Holderbusch
currently a PhD student in the group of Prof. Julia Vorholt at ETH Zürich in Switzerland
Lore Janssens
currently Medical Technologist Cryopreservation CAR-T at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine
Luka Van den Berghe
went on to pursue a PhD in the Masschelein lab
Fatima El Arnouki Belhaji
currently a PhD student in the Masschelein lab
Nicholas Alberg
currently a PhD student in the lab of Prof. Jeroen Lammertyn at KU Leuven
Jelke Deroover
currently Biomedical Expert at Red Cross-Flanders
Thibauld Gorts
currently QC analyst at Eurofins
Margaux Vermeylen
currently pursuing an advanced Master in Global Health at Ghent University
Ani Chichua
currently Project Coordinator in the Clinical Operations team at Medpace
Shekoufeh Mir Mohammad Sade
currently Health Science Researcher & Science Communication at Zova.Life
Amirhossein Ghodrati
currently Research Laboratory Technician at the Laboratory for Molecular Neurobiomarker Research at KU Leuven
Jeongho Choi
currently Scientific Researcher at Emocog Inc.
Benthe Dobbelaere
Thomas Blondeel
currently Secondary school teacher at Guldensporencollege
Jens Cremers
currently a PhD student in the Masschelein lab
Dagmar De Paepe
currently a PhD student in the Masschelein lab
Louise Boone
currently a PhD student in the Masschelein lab
Stien Van Herck
currently Associate Scientist in the High Throughput Engineering - Biocatalysis group at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine
Artuur Vercaemst
currently a PhD student in the lab of Prof. Marc Fransen at KU Leuven
Laura-Lynn Huybrechts
currently Site Management Associate at PSI CRO
Bieke Tenda
Fleur Somers
Rune Laridon
Olga Kowalska
Luna Saevels
Elisabeth De Keersmaecker
Dries Close
Robbe De Win
Erasmus Students
Erasmus Students
Alejandro Eulogio Segurado Luchsinger
M.Sc. student at the University of Lund, Sweden
Mafalda Cruchinho
M.Sc. student at the University of Minho, Portugal
Aurore Durant
M.Sc. student at the Université de Lorraine, France
Olga Kowalska
B.Sc. student at Warsaw University, Poland
Kevin Zhang
M.Sc. student at Imperial College London, UK
Laura Castagnetti
M.Sc. student at ENSAIA, France
Kacper Koźluk
B.Sc. student at Warsaw University, Poland
Lilou Taupin
M.Sc. student at ENSAIA, France
Camille Oppeneau
M.Sc. student at ENSAIA, France
Lazuli Hayel
M.Sc. student at ENSAIA, France
Visitors
Visitors
Angus Weir
PhD student at the University of Bristol, UK
Tom Eilers
PhD student at the University of Antwerp, Belgium
Sándor Csíkos
PhD student at the Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Jelle Dillen
PhD student at the University of Antwerp, Belgium
Laura Bollé
PhD student at Ghent University, Belgium
Yasmine Kerdel
PhD student at the University of Liège, Belgium
