Your host Brad is a Canadian science journalist, communicator, and podcaster. His work has appeared in Scientific American, Undark, Chemistry World and more! He also hosts and produces his own podcast exploring all manner of science topics and how they influence society. 

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Laurent Galibert has built his career in translational science and drug discovery, with more than 20 years of experience across therapeutic modalities. His specialization is in immunology. He joined VIB Discovery Sciences as an Expert Scientist in 2018, bringing industry-oriented expertise into a team designed to help move promising research closer to real-world applications.

Ayşe Candayan’s research journey has taken her through several international academic environments. She completed her PhD at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkiye, under the supervision of Prof. Esra Battaloglu and had guest research stays at University College London, KU Leuven, Harvard Medical School, and UAntwerp. Across those experiences, she developed a focus on molecular genetics and rare neurodegenerative disease. 

She is now a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Albena Jordanova's lab at the VIB-UAntwerp Center for Molecular Neurology, where her work centers on Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. This is a group of rare inherited disorders affecting the peripheral nervous system. By analyzing sequencing data from patients, she tries to find new genes that could lead to the pathology. She was awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Thomas Jacobs obtained his PhD from the University of Georgia, where he worked with Wayne Parrott on molecular tools for soybean biotechnology. In 2014, he moved to the Boyce Thompson Institute for a postdoc in Greg Martin’s lab, where he began developing CRISPR screens in plants. In 2016, he started the Plant Genome Editing group at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, and in 2022, he was appointed Associate Professor at Ghent University. 

Prof. Jacobs now leads the Plant Genome Editing group at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology. His team is focused on developing easy-to-use genome editing systems for all kinds of plant species, specifically focused on making large-scale gene knockouts and base editing.

Dr. Lia Martina is a VIB alumna, having completed her PhD at the VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology, where she worked on moyamoya disease in Prof. Francis Impens lab. She is now a Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Health & Food Safety (DG SANTE), working on the European Health Data Space (EHDS) regulation, with a focus on MyHealth@EU, cybersecurity, and the deployment of AI in healthcare. She holds a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Ghent, where she conducted groundbreaking research on antimicrobial pathways and immune-related diseases. Her early career centered on translational oncology research, contributing to biomarker discovery for Hodgkin lymphoma in pediatric patients. With a diverse background spanning biomedical science, digital health, and EU policy development, Dr. Martina plays a key role in shaping cross-border health data exchange, AI-driven healthcare innovations, and regulatory frameworks to advance public health in Europe.

Inge Van Molle finished her PhD at VUB, after which she continued as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge. She returned to the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology (CSB) in 2013, where she has worked as a postdoc and project manager ever since, specializing in protein engineering and structural biology. She is also part of the communications and outreach team at CSB. 

Ruben Vazquez-Uribe’s career has taken him from Mexico City to the Netherlands, Denmark, and now Belgium. At every stage, he has combined his passion for microbes with a strong sense of purpose , exploring how microbial life can be harnessed to benefit society, from food applications to sustainability.

Ruben is a Staff Scientist at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, where he works in the lab of Jeroen Raes. He leads the fermentations section within the Molecular Bacteriology group and also serves as a scientific project manager.

Beyond the lab, Ruben is active in VIB’s Eco-teams and helped launch a “bike-to-work” initiative to promote more sustainable practices. His work reflects both scientific curiosity and a deep commitment to community, culture, and environmental responsibility.

Bart Lambrecht is Director of the VIB Center for Inflammation Research and is recognized internationally as a leading authority on asthma and allergy. In addition to his research, he works as a pulmonologist at Ghent University Hospital, where he continued full-time clinical work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has received multiple awards for his research, including the Francqui Prize — one of Belgium’s oldest and most prestigious scientific distinctions. His pioneering work has revealed how excessive hygiene and limited exposure to infections can misalign the immune system, deepening our understanding of the origins of asthma and allergy. These insights have opened new directions for treatment and prevention.

Bart’s expertise also extends to cancer biology. He is an active advocate for the emerging field of immune niches and co-organized the Immune Niches in Cancer & Inflammation conference earlier this year, helping to connect insights across inflammation and oncology research.

Elina Kuznecova is a lab technician at VIB’s Spatial Catalyst, where she works in a high-tech research environment supporting cutting-edge life sciences projects. Originally from Latvia, Elina left her home country at a young age to pursue an academic career abroad, a path that required both determination and adaptability.

Throughout her journey, she has navigated key career choices, including whether to remain in academia or explore opportunities in industry, ultimately finding her place within one of Europe’s leading research institutes.

Beyond her work in the lab, Elina shares her experiences openly on social media under the handle elina_in_science, where she connects with more than 90,000 followers. Her platform offers an honest look at life in science, inspiring others to follow their own paths and showing that careers in research can take many different forms.

Jiska van der Reest began her academic and research journey in the Netherlands, with further studies in Glasgow at the Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre and later at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Her scientific work focused on cancer metabolism, exploring how cellular energy processes contribute to disease.

Alongside her moves across countries and research disciplines, Jiska also transitioned from the lab to the world of business. She now works as a Business Development Manager at VIB, where she helps translate scientific discoveries into innovations that can reach patients and society.

Her career path illustrates the many directions a background in science can take and highlights the importance of bridging research and business to turn knowledge into real-world impact.

Milton Boaheng Antwi recently completed his PhD at the VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology, where his research focused on gender-personalized medicine for the treatment of fatty liver disease. His scientific work and engaging presentation style have earned him several distinctions, including winning the Scientists on Stage competition at the 2024 VIB Seminar.

Originally from Ghana, Milton has pursued an academic journey that spans continents. He completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of the Southern Caribbean in Trinidad and Tobago, followed by a master’s degree in Biomedicine at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. This experience shaped both his scientific and personal outlook. Outside the lab, Milton is a musician and sports enthusiast.

Erin Tranfield is the Head of the BioImaging Core at VIB in Ghent, Belgium, as of March 2024. She earned her PhD from the University of British Columbia and completed her postdoctoral research at NASA Ames Research Center and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. From May 2013 to February 2024, she managed the biological electron microscopy facility at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência in Portugal. With over 25 years of experience, Erin specializes in room temperature EM, cryo-immobilization, electron tomography, and CLEM, focusing on the influenza A virus. She has served as President of the Portuguese Microscopy Society, co-chaired the ESA Topical Team on Celestial Dust Toxicity, and has been a member of the EMBL Alumni Board since 2020. In 2020, she founded the TechEM Seminar Series for EM Facility staff in Europe and Asia. She received the 2023 Alan Agar Award for Electron Microscopy from the Royal Microscopy Society.

Bart De Strooper is a professor of molecular medicine at the KU Leuven and VIB, Belgium, and a professor in dementia research at the University College London, UK. He has been director of the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain and Disease Research (2007-2016) and founding director of the UK Dementia Research Institute (2016-2023). His scientific work focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease. Among many other awards, Bart, together with John Hardy, Christian Haas, and Michel Goedert, received the Brain Prize for their groundbreaking research on the genetic and molecular basis of Alzheimer's disease in 2018. 

Colinda Scheele is a group leader at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology and an assistant professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium, as of June 2020. Colinda received a Master in Biomedical Sciences from Utrecht University. She performed her PhD research in the lab of Prof. Jacco van Rheenen (at the Hubrecht Institute (Utrecht) and the Netherlands Cancer Institute (Amsterdam)), which she completed in 2020 with the highest honors. She received several awards for her work, including the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds fellowship and the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek award. Directly after her PhD, she started her independent group at VIB-KU Leuven. Her lab studies how healthy mammary tissue architecture prevents or promotes the different steps of tumorigenesis.

Stein Aerts is Scientific Director of VIB.AI, the VIB Center for AI & Computational Biology. He is also a VIB group leader and professor at the KU Leuven Department of Human Genetics. Stein has a multidisciplinary background in both bioengineering and computer science. During his PhD he was trained in bioinformatics, and during his Postdoc, he worked on the genomics of gene regulation in Drosophila. He heads the Laboratory of Computational Biology, with a research focus on deciphering the genomic regulatory code, using a combination of single-cell, machine-learning, and high-throughput experimental approaches. Stein is an EMBO member, obtained Consolidator and Advanced ERC grants, and has been awarded the 2017 Prize for Bioinformatics and Computational Science from the Biotech Fund and the 2016 AstraZeneca Foundation Award Bioinformatics. He co-founded the Fly Cell Atlas Consortium.

Joleen Masschelein was appointed as a group leader at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology and as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology at KU Leuven in 2020. Research in her lab is focused on the genomics-driven discovery of new medicines from underexplored micro-organisms, as well as the engineering of microbial cell factories for the production of industrially-important molecules and other biotherapeutic applications. Joleen has co-authored 21 publications and 2 patent applications, and currently serves on the editorial advisory board for the journal Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology.