Leuven, Flemish Region, Belgium
Passionate and highly self-motivated scientist with several years’ experience in the preclinical validation of new anti-cancer therapeutics such as small molecule inhibitors, bispecific antibodies (Biclonics), and nanobodies. As responsible for the industrial collaborations in the lab of Tumor Inflammation and Angiogenesis, I lead a team of scientists, work in close contact and interact with business development managers, new ventures, medical doctors, medical directors, principal scientists, CEOs, CSOs and so on. My expertise in the biotech sector lies in tumor immunology, gene and cell therapy, and high-throughput (single-cell) CRISPR/Cas9 functional genomic screening (in vivo and in vitro) to distill novel immunotherapeutic targets. I am currently following several research projects and business opportunities in the immuno-oncology sector (small molecules, novel biologics, target identification and gene editing of T cells to improve immune-checkpoint blockade and adoptive T cell therapies). Among them, I can mention active and fruitful partnerships with Merus, Octimet, Janssen, DNAlytics, Oncurious, and the involvement in a new startup with DROIA oncology ventures and V-Bio ventures (Montis Biosciences). Working at the interface of academia and pharma industry has allowed me to acquire a strong scientific background in the therapeutic area of interest as well as a plethora of business management skills and an entrepreneurial mindset, which represent a key asset for a successful pharma career.
Industrial activities: Leading a team responsible for the industrial valorization of the scientific output of the lab, and for the collaborations with biotech/pharma companies. Building trusted relationships with physicians and the biotech/pharma sector in order to maintain and expand our portfolio of industrial and clinical collaborations. Identifying and setting achievable goals according to the budget, manpower and expected timeline. Optimizing the productivity of the team (delegation, re-assignment of tasks, etc.) to accomplish the expected deliverables. CRISPR platform lead: implementing cutting-edge CRISPR in vivo screening platforms in various tumor murine models and cellular compartments (i.e., cancer cells, CD8+ T cells, Tregs, and TAMs). With a main focus on immunometabolism in the tumor microenvironment (TME), over the years I developed several robust in vivo CRISPR/Cas9 screening pipelines to monitor phenotypic changes in response to perturbation exclusively in the desired cellular compartment, also at single-cell level. The platforms have also been recently empowered with surface proteome data on single cells (CITE-seq), particularly useful to cluster the diverse immune phenotypes when pursuing in vivo screening on tumor infiltrating immune cells. Tailored gRNA libraries are routinely synthesized for multiple ongoing academic and industrial projects aiming at identifying novel unexplored targets able to promote anti-tumor immunity in solid tumors. This includes also T cell fitness screens for next-generation T cell therapies in solid refractory tumors. Academic activities: currently supervising the work of several postdocs, PhD students (co-promoter of three PhD student), and research assistants. I served on the thesis committee of 4 Master students. Extensive grant writing experience for national (e.g., FWO, VLK, STK, etc.), international (e.g., ERC StG, ERC CoG, ERC PoC, H2020-MSCAITN, etc.), and industry-academia collaborative R&D proposals.
Mainly leading a prospective study to develop a data-driven, high-performance and non-invasive Colorectal Cancer screening test, the Monomark (trademark ColonoKit). The goal was to evaluate the diagnostic power of MonoMark - a monocyte-based transcriptomic test (RT-qPCR) combined to a mathematical model - for Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis, head to head with the well-established FIT diagnostic test. Based on a research program from VIB, KU Leuven and UZ Leuven, with the support of the Fournier Majoie Foundation and in partnership with DNAlytics. Lab of Tumor Inflammation and Angiogenesis VIB - KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology (CCB) Department of Oncology, KU Leuven Campus Gasthuisberg O&N4 Herestraat 49 - B 912, 3000 Leuven