PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2020 – present: Simons Postdoc Fellow in Marine Microbial Ecology Alverson lab, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, USA Funding from the Simons Foundation 2019 – 2020: visiting postdoctoral researcher Alverson lab, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, USA Funding from Fulbright Belgium and the Belgian American Educational Foundation (B.A.E.F.) 2014 – 2019: PhD researcher & research assistant Laboratory of Protistology & Aquatic Ecology (Ghent University) and Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium Funding from the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO) |
EDUCATION
2019: PhD in Biology (Ghent University/Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium).
Title PhD thesis: Diversity, evolutionary history and biogeography of diatoms: Pinnularia borealis as a case study
Promotors: Prof. Dr. Wim Vyverman, Prof. Dr. Bart Van de Vijver
2014: MSc in Biology, partim Ecology & Environmental Sciences (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
Title MSc thesis: Environmental changes in a High Arctic Ecosystem
Promotors: Prof. Dr. Bart Van de Vijver, Dr. Katerina Kopalová
graduated with greatest distinction, first of year
2012: BSc in Biology (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
graduated with greatest distinction, first of year
2019: PhD in Biology (Ghent University/Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium).
Title PhD thesis: Diversity, evolutionary history and biogeography of diatoms: Pinnularia borealis as a case study
Promotors: Prof. Dr. Wim Vyverman, Prof. Dr. Bart Van de Vijver
2014: MSc in Biology, partim Ecology & Environmental Sciences (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
Title MSc thesis: Environmental changes in a High Arctic Ecosystem
Promotors: Prof. Dr. Bart Van de Vijver, Dr. Katerina Kopalová
graduated with greatest distinction, first of year
2012: BSc in Biology (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
graduated with greatest distinction, first of year
GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
- 2022: FWO Junior Postdoctoral Fellowship (Research Foundation Flanders)
- 2020: Simons Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Marine Microbial Ecology
- 2019: Fulbright Research Scholar Fellowship
- 2019: Belgian American Educational Foundation (B.A.E.F.) Postdoctoral Fellowship
- 2019: FWO travel grant for participation in an international conference meeting 7th European Phycological Congress, Zagreb, Croatia
- 2016: FWO travel grant for a long research stay abroad. Participation in leg 1 of the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (Swiss Polar Institute & British Antarctic Survey)
- 2016: FWO travel grant for a short research stay abroad (Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada)
- 2014: FWO (Research Foundation Flanders) PhD Fellowship
AWARDS
- 2021: Paul van Oye prize for my PhD. The Paul van Oye prize is awarded every two years by the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB) to a major work in the field of Biology. More info.
- 2019: Best student lecture, 7th European Phycological Congress, Zagreb, Croatia. Title: Global colonization and diversification in the terrestrial diatom species complex Pinnularia borealis
- 2018: Best student lecture, 37th ADLaF meeting, Meise, Belgium. Title: L’histoire évolutive et biogéographique des diatomées en Antarctique
- 2018: Best student lecture, 25th International Diatom Symposium, Berlin, Germany. Title: The evolutionary and biogeographical history of diatoms in Antarctica: a tale of fossils, eDNA and molecular phylogenies
- 2017: Best student lecture, 11th Central European Diatom Meeting, Prague, Czech Republic. Title: Opening Pandora’s box: molecular diversity, evolutionary history and phylogeography of the Pinnularia borealis – rabenhorstii species complex
- 2016: Best student lecture, 24th International Diatom Symposium, Quebec, Canada. Title: Opening Pandora’s box: species diversity, evolutionary history and biogeography of the Pinnularia borealis species complex
- 2016: Second best student speed talk, 24th International Diatom Symposium, Quebec, Canada. Title: Disentangling the evolutionary history and biogeography of the diatoms in the Polar Regions: data from fossils and molecular phylogenie
- 2016: Young Botanist Award for best master thesis in the field of botany. Awarded by the Royal Belgian Botanical Society at the 3th Annual Meeting on Plant Ecology & Evolution, Ghent Belgium
- 2015: Best student lecture, 9th Central European Diatom Meeting, Bremerhaven, Germany. Title: Diversity, ecology & structure of freshwater littoral diatom communities in Petuniabukta (Spitsbergen).
- 2014: Shortlist of the EOS prize 2014. The EOS prize 2014 is a prize awarded to the best master thesis in exact sciences and medicine at a Flemish university. The shortlist consisted of the top 5 out of 129 master theses
- 2014: Best student lecture, 2nd Polar Ecology Conference, České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Title: Diversity & ecology of freshwater diatoms (Bacillariophyta) in Petuniabukta (Spitsbergen, Svalbard)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2014 – 2018: Limnological Methods (MSc Oceans & Lakes, Ghent University)
2014 – 2017: Field Course Limnology, partim biomonitoring (BSc Biology, Ghent University)
2015: Algal Biodiversity Course (PhD course, Ghent University)
2014 – 2018: Limnological Methods (MSc Oceans & Lakes, Ghent University)
2014 – 2017: Field Course Limnology, partim biomonitoring (BSc Biology, Ghent University)
2015: Algal Biodiversity Course (PhD course, Ghent University)
SCIENTIFIC MEMBERSHIP & SERVICE
Board member
2016 – 2019: Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS Belgium)
Member
2014 – present: APECS International
2015 – present: Dutch-Flemish Society for Diatom Research (NVKD)
2015 – present: International Society for Diatom Research (ISDR)
Reviewer for scientific journals
55 reviews for 26 journals:
Nature Geoscience - Nature Communications - The ISME Journal - Molecular Ecology - Molecular Ecology Resources - Journal of Biogeography - All Life - Antarctic Science - Biogeochemistry - Biology Letters - BMC Genomics - Communications Biology - Diatom Research - Diversity - Fottea - Journal of Phycology - Marine Environmental Research - Nova Hedwigia - Phycologia - Phycological Research - Phytotaxa - Plant Ecology & Evolution - PLoS ONE - Protist - Scientific Reports - The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology
Grant reviewer
German Research Foundation (DFG), Germany
Organizing committee
Molecular Life of Diatoms 7 conference, San Diego, CA, USA
Session chair
13th European Diatom Meeting, 2021, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Other
Tyge Christensen evaluation committee member for best paper published in Phycologia, International Phycological Society, USA
Board member
2016 – 2019: Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS Belgium)
Member
2014 – present: APECS International
2015 – present: Dutch-Flemish Society for Diatom Research (NVKD)
2015 – present: International Society for Diatom Research (ISDR)
Reviewer for scientific journals
55 reviews for 26 journals:
Nature Geoscience - Nature Communications - The ISME Journal - Molecular Ecology - Molecular Ecology Resources - Journal of Biogeography - All Life - Antarctic Science - Biogeochemistry - Biology Letters - BMC Genomics - Communications Biology - Diatom Research - Diversity - Fottea - Journal of Phycology - Marine Environmental Research - Nova Hedwigia - Phycologia - Phycological Research - Phytotaxa - Plant Ecology & Evolution - PLoS ONE - Protist - Scientific Reports - The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology
Grant reviewer
German Research Foundation (DFG), Germany
Organizing committee
Molecular Life of Diatoms 7 conference, San Diego, CA, USA
Session chair
13th European Diatom Meeting, 2021, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Other
Tyge Christensen evaluation committee member for best paper published in Phycologia, International Phycological Society, USA
SCIENTIFIC SKILLS
Computer
Extensive experience with:
Basic experience with:
Laboratory
Field work
Computer
Extensive experience with:
- statistics software (R)
- Unix (Bash)
- phylogenetics (RAxML, BEAST, MrBayes, Mesquite, IQ-TREE, TESS, ClaDS, hisse, BAMM, BioGeoBEARS, MEGA, ...)
- environmental amplicon sequencing, eDNA (Uparse/Usearch, Mothur, DADA2, UNOISE, ...)
- transcriptomics (kallisto, trinity, STAR, HTSeq, EdgeR, stageR, topGO, ...)
- population genomics, pool-seq (bwa-mem, GATK, samtools, picard, bcftools, PoPoolation2, Freebayes, PoolSNP, PoolParty, Poolfstat, LFMM, autoLM, BayPass, ...)
- image processing software (Adobe Photoshop, Inkscape)
Basic experience with:
- Python
Laboratory
- culturing of microalgae (diatoms and green algae)
- cryopreservation of microalgae
- molecular lab analyses (DNA extraction, PCR, primer design, single cell Sanger sequencing)
- light microscopy (bright field, differential inference contrast, epifluorescence)
- taxonomy of freshwater diatoms
Field work
- sampling of lakes, wetlands and terrestrial environments for micro-organisms
- lake sediment and peat coring
- sampling of lakes and soils for culture establishment and DNA analysis
- physicochemical measurements
- confident working in extreme environments (High Arctic & Antarctic Regions), incl. working on a marine research vessel (participation in the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition, leg 1)
OUTREACH
Popular writing
2022: Kiezelwieren: de 'power house' van onze planeet. Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Onderzoekers Vertellen
2022: Ook micro-organismen blijken gevoelig voor grote klimaatveranderingen in Antarctica. De Korhaan 50 (1): 8-13
2020: Hidden Diversity in Pinnularia borealis, and Where it Lives. Diatom of the Month blog post series
2019: Sampling in the Arctic: plan for the unexpected. Blog APECS Belgium
2018: New to science: studying microscopic life in the Polar Regions. Blog APECS Belgium
2017: The Belgica expedition. A scientific success poorly known outside Belgium. Blog APECS Belgium
2015: Hoe kiezelwieren geschiedenis schrijven. [Translation: How diatoms write history]. De Korhaan 43: 23-27
2014: Hoe kiezelalgen geschiedenis schrijven. [Translation: How diatoms write history]. Scriptieprijs website
Lectures for a general public
2018: From Cape Town to Hobart: nature & science in the Southern Ocean. Member evening of Natuurpunt Noorderkempen, Essen, Belgium
2015: Spitsbergen: Science in the High Arctic. Member evening of Natuurpunt Noorderkempen, Kalmthout, Belgium
Interviews
2017: Interview in the local newspaper of Essen (Belgium). Subject: my participation in the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition
2014: Interview in the Gazet van Antwerpen, a Belgian newspaper. Subject: my nomination for the EOS prize shortlist
Other activities
2019: Co-organizer of the Antarctic story book contest for primary school children. A selection of the stories was published in the book Imagine l'Antarctique/Denkbeeldig Antarctica (in Dutch and French), which was published in September 2019 with funding from the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO)
2018: Light Festival in Ghent, Belgium. Inform the general public of the role of micro- and macroalgae in ecosystems.
2017: Co-organizer of a workshop on science outreach for young scientists (APECS Belgium)