At the Department of Photonics I aim to develop novel adaptive optoelectronic materials based on active nanoparticle models. Therefore, I will leverage the fact that photonic characteristics of individual nanoparticles can be designed by modelling their shape and material composition, while adding spatial ordering (patterns of nanoparticles) further expands the space of potential optical response functions. In order to develop novel nanoparticle-based materials the optical properties of the… Show more At the Department of Photonics I aim to develop novel adaptive optoelectronic materials based on active nanoparticle models. Therefore, I will leverage the fact that photonic characteristics of individual nanoparticles can be designed by modelling their shape and material composition, while adding spatial ordering (patterns of nanoparticles) further expands the space of potential optical response functions. In order to develop novel nanoparticle-based materials the optical properties of the individual nanoparticles and patterns thereof, their inter-particle interactions, and responses to external pertubations, need to be modelled simultaneously. These materials can be made adaptive by establishing multiple semi-stable nanoparticle patterns/states, whereby transitions between them can be steered. Thereby I aim to start from computational simulations, where the search-space of optical responses will be explored by machine-learning-aided techniques. Afterwards, prototype systems can be experimentally developed, with as target improving applications in all-optical integrated circuits: optical switches, logic gates, optical memory units, etc. Show less

We study the effect of noise in complex systems often encountered in biology and physics. Sytems driven far from equilibrium are likely to show different and richer but often as ordered behaviour as systems in equilibrium. To model such order appearing from chaos we use a quasi-2D collodial system designed by the Simply Complex Lab, which exists of nano particles undergoing Brownian motion in a thin layer of medium constrained by two glass slides, that are driven out of equilibrium by an… Show more We study the effect of noise in complex systems often encountered in biology and physics. Sytems driven far from equilibrium are likely to show different and richer but often as ordered behaviour as systems in equilibrium. To model such order appearing from chaos we use a quasi-2D collodial system designed by the Simply Complex Lab, which exists of nano particles undergoing Brownian motion in a thin layer of medium constrained by two glass slides, that are driven out of equilibrium by an ultra-fast laser and monitored by a fast camera. This project is funded by the TÜBITAK - European Commission Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Cofund program (PI: Michaël Barbier, grant no. 120C074). Further we employ artificial intelligence to help a computer exploring the phase space of pattern configurations within colloidal aggregates by steering the experimental microscope setup. We are developing highly realistic simulations such that the machine can discover all possible manners to reach different pattern configurations within a short time (as fast as simulations can be computed). The resulting experimental parameters can then be used in actual experiments. Project funded by the TÜBITAK - 1001 program (PI: Michaël Barbier, grant no. 120F310). Show less

At the University of Antwerp I work on the TRIAD (Adding Throughput and Readout to Imaging in Alzheimer’s Disease diagnostics) project, which is an IWT R&D project in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and the VIB institute (Bio Imaging Core) in Ghent. The main goal of the project is to enhance the translatability of drug screening campaigns in Alzheimer Disease (AD). Together with other project members I am devising image analysis pipelines for the… Show more At the University of Antwerp I work on the TRIAD (Adding Throughput and Readout to Imaging in Alzheimer’s Disease diagnostics) project, which is an IWT R&D project in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and the VIB institute (Bio Imaging Core) in Ghent. The main goal of the project is to enhance the translatability of drug screening campaigns in Alzheimer Disease (AD). Together with other project members I am devising image analysis pipelines for the extraction and quantification of cellular features such as spine morphology, neurite length, (aberrant) protein distribution and abundance. Show less

At Janssen I worked on the IMI PREDECT project, which tries to address the lack of predictive in vitro pre-clinical models for drug discovery in cancer research. PREDECT’s goal is to characterize in vivo tumour models, tissue slices, 2D/3D cell cultures and co-culture systems, and compare them with primary human cancer samples, in order to determine the extent that they represent the complexity of human tumours. For the characterization of 3D in vitro cell cultures, 3D fluorescent confocal image… Show more At Janssen I worked on the IMI PREDECT project, which tries to address the lack of predictive in vitro pre-clinical models for drug discovery in cancer research. PREDECT’s goal is to characterize in vivo tumour models, tissue slices, 2D/3D cell cultures and co-culture systems, and compare them with primary human cancer samples, in order to determine the extent that they represent the complexity of human tumours. For the characterization of 3D in vitro cell cultures, 3D fluorescent confocal image stacks are acquired and analysed. I was responsible for the design of the 3D image analsyis algorithms of those cultures, which consists of the segmentation in 3D of the micro-tumors/spheroids and/or individual cells and nuclei, and extraction of relevant features. Show less

Research