I am a biotechnologist by training with experience in molecular biological research. I have been involved in projects on both prokaryotic, mammalian and human systems in various international research groups.

During my PhD training, I applied advanced biophysical and live cell microscopy methods to investigate the dynamics of nuclear receptors during transcription regulation in eukaryotes.

Joining the TU Delft laboratory of prof. Nynke Dekker as a postdoctoral researcher was a continuation of this path in many ways. We were focusing the dynamics of the replication machinery in live bacteria. ‘Focusing’ is not an empty term here, as we applied cutting-edge super-resolution live cell microscopy to detect and follow the movement of single molecules. I initiated projects on helicase action in transcription-replication encounters.

Being trained in a lab with intense involvement in genomic research (from the nuclear receptor perspective) I became fascinated with large scale genomic methods; their potential in medicine and their rate of progress. Hence, I took the exciting opportunity to join the research group of prof. Henk Stunnenberg at Radboud University and learn/apply single cell transcriptomic profiling, a thriving field of molecular biology. The project we initiated on Pheochromocytoma (a rare adrenal tumor) was carried over, along with new endeavours on pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) at the Prinses Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, the new home of the lab.

In this highly collaborative environment I could widen my scope further and dive into cancer immunotherapy and (the next generation of) CAR-T cells. I became fascinated by the research done at the research group of Jürgen Kuball and Zsolt Sebestyen, so I am very excited to join forces with them at the Center for Translational Immunology of the University Medical Center Utrecht as an assistant professor.