MDxHealth is an international leading molecular diagnostic company that develops and commercializes epigenetic tests to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients in the field of urology. I am involved in an R&D team that mainly works on biomarker discovery and the implementation of new epigenetic technology.Main responsibilities• Implementation of a novel methylation technologies• Biomarker discovery for different cancer types (prostate, bladder, kidney)• Development of urological methylation specific diagnostic assays• Exploring new sample types, liquid biopsy (plasma/serum, urine, sputum,…)• Development of new internal sequencing technologies • Transferring MDxHealth PCR based technologies to NGS technology• Transferring MDxHealth PCR based assays to Idylla platform (BioCartis)• Designing feasibility experiments for the implementation of new technologies• Communication with collaborating universities / companies.Main achievements• Development of new epigenetic diagnostics for prostate and bladder cancer (AssureMDx, SelectMDx)• Introducing Next Generation Sequencing technology into the company: GS FLX (454 Roche), Next generation sequencing (Illumina), Third generation sequencing (Oxford Nanopore Technologies)• Optimization of various workflows (e.g. methylation calling in cell-free DNA from liquid biopsies (sputum, urine, blood, serum, plasma,…))

The Centre for Medical Genetics Ghent provides a wide variety of genetic service going from the screening of inherited disorders, to cancer research and education. Main responsibilitiesSanger sequencing facility• Insight into running a sequencing facility (ISO 17025)• Technical supervisor of the Genetic Service Unit • Maintenance and programming of:- Sciclone ALH 3000 workstation (Caliper/Perkin Elmer)- Sciclone ALH 4000 workstation (Caliper/Perkin Elmer)- 3130xl DNA analyser (Life Technologies)- 3730xl DNA analyser (Life Technologies)- Tecan Genesis workstation (Tecan)- Tecan Freedom Evo (100 and 200) (Tecan)• Customer contact (e.g. project setup, feedback, optimization, facturation, troubleshooting)Assay development• Designing new assays for the detection of mutations (e.g.: FBN1, FGFR3, …)Paternity testing• Powerplex 16 system, Powerplex Y23Zebrafish facility• Insight into setting up and running a zebrafish facility (Techniplast system)• Daily maintenance of the facility• Zebrafish breeding for morpholino experiments• Morpholino injections

Contracted under the Centre for Medical Genetics Ghent I was involved in the start-up and running of the UGent spinoff NXT-GNT, a service testing facility for next generation sequencing.Main responsibilities• Setup and running a NGS facility • Working with different types of Next Generation Sequencing technology- GS FLX and GS junior (Roche, 454)- GAIIx (Illumina)- MiSeq (Illumina)• Preparation of different established library types• Implementation of new experimental library preparations and sample types based on client requests• Troubleshooting • Knowledge transfer• Management of a team of lab technicians / Phd students• Data management and analysis (NextGene)• Setup and achieving ISO 17025 for GS FLX

Internship to achieve the Bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical and Biological Laboratory technology.Thesis subject: "Characterization of microsatellite loci at Podarcis melisellensis and Podarcis sicula."