Research using ‘intestinal organoids’, mini-guts grown from stem cells of patients with Cystic Fibrosis for personalized medicine. The goal of my PhD is to predict drug response of CFTR-modulators in individual patients.Projects:- Coordinating the ‘HIT-CF Europe’ project, funded under European Union’s Horizon 2020 research programme.HIT-CF Europe aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of three drug candidates in patients with CF and rare mutations, pre-selected by their… Show more Research using ‘intestinal organoids’, mini-guts grown from stem cells of patients with Cystic Fibrosis for personalized medicine. The goal of my PhD is to predict drug response of CFTR-modulators in individual patients.Projects:- Coordinating the ‘HIT-CF Europe’ project, funded under European Union’s Horizon 2020 research programme.HIT-CF Europe aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of three drug candidates in patients with CF and rare mutations, pre-selected by their mini-intestines in the laboratory.- Rainbow project: collect intestinal organoids from patients with Cystic Fibrosis who have a rare CFTR-mutation. Subsequently test >1300 FDA-approved drugs on these organoids to find new drugs and repurpose known drugs that modulate CFTR-function in these patients.- Central Cystic Fibrosis Research cohort: a longitudinal registration integrating care, clinical and laboratory research to improve personalized medicine for people suffering from Cystic Fibrosis- TOPAZ project: investigating the use of intestinal organoids for identifying clinically responding and non-responding Cystic Fibrosis patients to ivacaftor and ivacaftor/lumacaftor therapy Show less

Modulators of the CFTR-protein are effective in many people with Cystic Fibrosis, but effectiveness differs per individual. Several in-vitro models are used to study effect of drugs on CFTR function, the most prominent being airway epithelial cells and intestinal organoids. The aims of my stay at Telethon Kids Institute are to:- Implement the use of intestinal organoids - Gain experience with culturing airway epithelial cells- Study differences between airway epithelial cells… Show more Modulators of the CFTR-protein are effective in many people with Cystic Fibrosis, but effectiveness differs per individual. Several in-vitro models are used to study effect of drugs on CFTR function, the most prominent being airway epithelial cells and intestinal organoids. The aims of my stay at Telethon Kids Institute are to:- Implement the use of intestinal organoids - Gain experience with culturing airway epithelial cells- Study differences between airway epithelial cells and intestinal organoids for measuring CFTR-function and drug response. Show less

Working as a house officer at Internal Medicine, Gastro-enterology, Pulmonology, Cardiology, and Emergency Medicine departments.

There is an increasing shortage of medical doctors in rural areas of South Africa, which endangers the access to health resources for people living outside urban areas.I evaluated three rural rotations for medical students from Stellenbosch and wrote an official report with recommendations on how to improve the rotations in order to attract more young doctors to rural areas.

My responsibilities included the triage of patients presenting to the general practitioner: determining the priority of patients' treatment, administrative tasks and small interventions like removing stitches.

I supervised first and second year students dissecting anatomical preparations