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Research Interests:
Population & landscape genomics - Molecular evolution
Biological and Genomic diversity - Species distribution modelling

Academic experience

Post-doctoral Researcher in Ecological & Evolutionary Genomics | 2021 - 2025
Focus: Elucidating animal dispersal histories based on the evolution of their viruses
Affiliations:
KU Leuven (Belgium) - Rega Institute for Medical Research – Evolutionary and Computational Virology
Junior Researcher (joint-PhD candidate) | 2021 - 2025
Focus: Co-evolutionary patterns and population dynamics of Leishmania Viannia spp. and Leishmaniavirus 1
Affiliations:
Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (Belgium) – Molecular Parasitology unit
University of Antwerp (Belgium)
KU Leuven (Belgium) - Rega Institute for Medical Research – Evolutionary and Computational Virology
Scientific Researcher (PhD candidate) | 2020 - 2021
Focus: Mechanisms of large internal deletions in HIV proviruses
Affiliation: AIDS Reference Laboratory at University of Ghent (Belgium)
Premature ending: Mismatch between research interests and topic

Guest lecturer at University of Antwerp | 2023 - present
Course: Molecular Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases: Population genomics
Teaching Assistant
Practical course: (viral) phylogenetics, MSc. Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven | 2025
Practical course: Viral phylogeography, MSc. Biology, KU Leuven | 2024, 2025
Course: General research workshop, Centre du Recherche en Hydrobiologie, Uvira (DRC) | 2019

Joint-PhD in Biomedical Sciences | 2021 - 2025
Thesis: Parasite evolution through the lens of a microbial alliance
Institutions:
University of Antwerp
KU Leuven
Master in Biology | 2018 - 2020
Specialization: Ecology & Evolution
Institution: KU Leuven
Bachelor in Biology | 2015 - 2018
Specialization: Environment & Sustainable Development
Institution: KU Leuven

Physalia courses:

Machine- and Deep learning methods for population genomics and phylogeography - April 2025

EMBO:

University of Antwerp:

Ecology and Evolution of Parasites and infections, 5th Summer workshop - September 2021
Genomic Data analysis - November 2020

KU LEUVEN Post-Doctoral Mandate (PDM) type 1 grant | 2025
Awarded after competitive, though unsuccesful, application for a FWO post-doctoral fellowship with the goal to re-apply with the following call.
FWO Grant for participation in a conference abroad | 2024
Awarded for presenting at the 3rd Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology in July 2024 (Montreal, Canada).
Zoetis Travel Grant | 2021
Awarded after plenary presentation at the annual meeting of the Belgian Society of Parasitology and Protistology (BSPP). Specifically meant for attending the WorldLeish7 conference in August 2022 (Cartagena, Colombia).
VLIR-UOS Travel Grant | 2019
Awarded after application for a six-week research visit and field work in Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2019.

2023-2024 - Transcriptional profiling of Leishmania (Viannia) parasites infected with Leishmania RNA virus 1, KU Leuven
2022-2023 - Selective Whole Genome Amplification as a method for genomic surveillance of Leishmania braziliensis, Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp)
2021-2022 - Genome diversity of Leishmania aethiopica from Ethiopia, Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp)