Lab Members and Alumni

Principal Investigator

Alain Goossens

Alain Goossens, obtained his Master in Biology-Plant Biotechnology at Ghent University (1992) and his PhD in Marc Van Montagu’s lab at the Laboratory of Genetics, Ghent University (1998), studying plant seed storage protein synthesis. Subsequently, he performed postdoctoral studies at the IBMCP-UPV in Valencia (Spain) in the lab of Ramón Serrano, working on yeast salt tolerance. He returned to VIB-Ghent University and started his own research group within the VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology at Ghent University in 2003, focusing on jasmonate signalling, gene discovery in plant specialized metabolism and metabolic engineering. He has been appointed as a Professor at Ghent University in 2010 and is teaching ‘Metabolic Engineering’.

Postdoctoral Researchers

Elia Lacchini

Postdoctoral fellow

Elia Lacchini obtained his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2018 at the University of Milan, working on accelerated domestication of African rice by CRISPR mediated disruption of seed yield loci. Currently he works as postdoc in Alain Goossens’s lab to unravel the molecular mechanisms controlling the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites in medicinal plants and to increase the productivity of such compounds in planta.

Francisco Molina-Hidalgo

Postdoctoral fellow

Francisco Javier Molina-Hidalgo obtained a Bachelor degree in Biology and a Master in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Cordoba, Spain. He obtained his PhD in Biosciences in 2016, studying the functional characterization of strawberry genes of biotechnological interest and transcription factors related with fruit ripening in Juan Muñoz´s group at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Cordoba, Spain. As a postdoc, in the same lab, he was also involved in the study of plant-pathogen interactions in strawberry and olive tree. In May 2018 he joined the Specialized Metabolism group as a postdoctoral researcher in the EU H2020 project Newcotiana. He is studying pyridine alkaloid biosynthesis in tobacco plants, channelling metabolic fluxes towards accumulation of added-value metabolites.

Avanish Rai

Postdoctoral fellow

Avanish Rai obtained his PhD in 2015 from Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, India where he investigated the role of heteromeric and homomeric isoprenyl diphosphate synthases in regulation of the monoterpene indole alkaloid pathway from Catharanthus roseus. In 2017, Avanish received a postdoctoral fellowship from Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Govt. of India to join the group of Alain Goossens to understand the protein-protein interaction network for fine tuning of jasmonate signalling in Solanum lycopersicum.

Andrés Ritter

Postdoctoral fellow

Andrés Ritter obtained his PhD in 2009 at the University of Paris VI where he investigated the mechanisms leading to copper tolerance in marine brown algae. From 2009 till 2011 he carried out a postdoc at the University of Bretagne Sud in France to study biofilm adhesion proteins in marine biofilm bacteria. From 2012 till 2016 he joined the group of Alain Goossens at the VIB-UGent to study mechanisms relating diurnal rhythms to plant defence. He then joined the group of Angela Falciatore at the Sorbonne University from 2016 to 2018 where he studied the molecular mechanisms behind the circadian rhythms of marine diatoms. In March 2019 he returned to the Goossens lab to study protein interaction networks related to biotic stress responses in tomato roots.

Predoctoral Researchers

Evi Ceulemans

Predoctoral fellow

Evi Ceulemans obtained her Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology, focus plant biotechnology, at the University of Ghent in 2016. During her master thesis in the Functional Interactomics lab of Geert De Jaeger at the PSB, she worked on optimizing new in planta interactomics techniques. She then started her PhD in the Specialized Metabolism group, funded by FWO-SB. Her research focuses on unravelling the infection mechanism of rhizogenic Agrobacteria in tomato roots. Essentially, she is identifying direct plant protein interactors of bacterial effector proteins using an optimized Y2H-seq platform.

Charlotte De Bruyn

Predoctoral fellow

Charlotte De Bruyn obtained a Master of Science in Bioscience Engineering: Cell and Gene Biotechnology at Ghent University in 2016. During her master thesis, she investigated the biosynthesis, regulation and secretion of cyclic lipopeptides in fluorescent Pseudomonas populations in the Laboratory of Phytopathology at UGent. In 2018 she started a PhD to unravel the biosynthetic pathway of sesquiterpene lactones in industrial chicory and witloof using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. This PhD project is a collaboration between VIB and ILVO.

Seowoo Kim

Predoctoral fellow

Seowoo Kim graduated as Master of Science in Plant Biotechnology at KyungHee University, South Korea in 2017. During her master thesis, she investigated the crosstalk between diurnal rhythm and water stress in rice. As a fellow of the VIB international PhD program of 2017, her research now focuses on the biosynthesis, signalling, and inflammatory roles of abscisic acid and salicylic acid in mammals.

Jhon Venegas Molina

Predoctoral fellow

Jhon Venegas-Molina graduated as Agricultural Engineer from the Universidad Central del Ecuador in 2013. For his research thesis, he worked at Antonio Leon-Reyes’s lab at Universidad San Francisco de Quito characterizing plant elicitors of induced systemic resistance. Subsequently, he worked in the same lab on several integrated pest management research projects in crops. Afterwards, he obtained his MSc in Plant Sciences specialisation Plant Pathology and Entomology at Wageningen University in 2017 performing two research theses. The first one, at Marcel Dicke’s lab studying the role of lipoxygenases in the jasmonate-induced plant defence against thrips. And the second one, at Corné Pieterse’s lab at Utrecht University studying the role of soil microbe-induced coumarins in plant immunity. Thereafter, he started his PhD in Alain Goossens’s lab at VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology in 2018, working on proteomics and transcriptomics approaches for discovering and characterizing novel jasmonate-signalling regulators.

Jacopo Di Sora

Predoctoral fellow

Jacopo Di Sora obtained his Master’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology in December 2018 at Tuscia University. During his Master thesis, developed in collaboration with the PMI group of Utrecht University, he focused on the Arabidopsis immune system. Specifically, he investigated the role of two novel putative regulators within the SA and JA signalling pathways. In March 2019, he started his PhD at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology in the Specialized Metabolism group of Alain Goossens. His doctoral research focuses on the crazy roots disease in tomato. He aims to identify plant protein interactors of Agrobacterial effector proteins using AP and Y2H-seq platforms.

Gwen Swinnen

Predoctoral fellow

Gwen Swinnen obtained a Master of Science degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Ghent University in 2014. For her Master thesis in the Specialized Metabolism group, she studied how to increase the activity of a jasmonate-related transcription factor. After graduation, she started a PhD in the Specialized Metabolism group to elucidate the transcriptional network that controls steroid metabolism in tomato.

Clara Williams

Predoctoral fellow

Clara Williams graduated in 2014 from University of California Davis. While there she studied the role of PXY signalling in Arabidopsis vascular development, as well as mechanisms of sex determination, and utilized NGS to study the dosage dependent effects of ploidy. In January 2016 she started her PhD in the Specialized Metabolism group at PSB. Her PhD research focuses on the regulation of the jasmonate receptor, COI1 and how this effects Arabidopsis defence responses.

Lore GRYFFROY

Predoctoral fellow

Lore Gryffroy graduated in 2018 as a Master of Science in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at Ghent University. During her master thesis in the Specialized Metabolism group, she investigated the molecular infection mechanism of tomato-rhizogenic agrobacteria interaction using Y2H-sequencing. In 2018 she started her PhD focusing on the functional re-annotation of tomato-rhizogenic agrobacteria interaction using a proteogenomics pipeline.

Technical Staff

Robin Vanden Bossche

Lab manager

Robin Vanden Bossche graduated in 2005 as Bachelor in Biomedical Laboratory Technology at Hogeschool Gent, Departement Vesalius. After working in the microbiological lab of the OLV- hospital in Aalst, he moved to the pathology lab of the UZA in Antwerp (Prof. Dr. Eric Van Mark), to increase his skills in this area. Since 2008, he joined the Specialized Metabolism group in PSB, and contributes to the research on jasmonate signalling and secondary metabolism in Arabidopsis, tobacco and Catharanthus roseus.

Rebecca De Clercq

Technician

Rebecca De Clercq graduated in 1980 as Bachelor in Clinical Chemistry at Hogeschool Sint-Lieven, Gent and started working in the Lab of Medical Analysis of Dr. R. Mariën at Zwijnaarde. In 1986, she moved to the lab of Genetics of Prof. Dr. Marc Van Montagu, where she participated in several projects. Since 2011, she joined the Specialized Metabolism Group at PSB.

Group alumni 

• Jacob Pollier, Belgian, PhD – Left 2019 – Current position: Senior researcher at the VIB Metabolomics Core, Belgium

• Yuechen Bai, Chinese, PhD – Left 2019 – Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany

• Maite Colinas, Swiss, PhD – Left 2019 – Current position: unemployed

• Bianca Ribeiro, Brazilian – Left 2019 – Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Leuven University, Belgium

• Lei Wang, Chinese, PhD – Left 2019 – Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Bern University, Switzerland

• Keylla Bicalho, Brazilian, PhD – Left 2018 – Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at State University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

• Marie-Laure Erffelinck, Belgian, PhD – Left 2018 – Current position: Scientist yeast engineering at AgroSavfe, Gent, Belgium

• Patricia Fernández Calvo, Spanish, PhD – Left 2018 – Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

• Petra Van Damme, Belgian, PhD – Left 2018 – Current position: ERC grant holder, Professor and Group Leader at Ghent University, Gent, Belgium

• Maria Perassolo, Argentinian, PhD – Left 2018 – Current position: Group Leader at University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Karel Miettinen, Finnish, PhD – Left 2018 – Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark

• Jan Mertens, Belgian, PhD – Left 2017 – Current position: Research Manager at Puratos, Belgium

•  Louisi Souza de Oliveira, Brazilian, PhD – Left 2017 – Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Linlin Qi, Chinese, PhD – Left 2017 – Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at IST Austria, Vienna, Austria

• Tessa Moses, Indian, PhD – Left 2017 – Current position: Metabolomics Specialist at Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland

• Sabrina Iñigo, Argentinian, PhD – Left 2016 – Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher at VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, Gent, Belgium

• Laurens Pauwels, Belgian, PhD – Left 2016 – Current position: Leader Crop Genome Engineering Facility, VIB-UGent, Gent, Belgium

•  Fabian Schweizer, Swiss, PhD – Left 2016 – Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Lausanne University, Lausanne, Sweden

• Alex Van Moerkercke, Belgian, PhD – Left 2016 – Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Lund University, Lund, Sweden

• Jonas Goossens, Belgian, PhD – Left 2016 – Current position: Project Manager and Plant Physiologist at BASF Cropdesign, Gent, Belgium

• Philipp Arendt, German, PhD – Left 2016 – Current position: Product Manager at Euroimmun, Luebeck, Germany

• Gabriela Calegario, Brazilian – Left 2015 – Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

• Janine Colling, South-African, PhD – Left 2015 – Current position: Staff Scientist at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South-Africa

• Astrid Nagels Durand, Belgian, PhD – Left 2015 – Current position: Patent Adviser at Brantsandpatents, Gent, Belgium

• Michiel Matthijs, Belgian, PhD – Left 2014 – Current position: Fermentation Specialist at Cargill, Belgium; former CSO of Algenuity, Bedford, United Kingdom

• Nathan De Geyter, Belgian, PhD – Left 2014 – Current position: Innovation Manager at Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium

• Michele Fabris, Italian, PhD – Left 2013 – Current position: Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

• Sophie Carbonelle, Belgian – Left 2013 – Current position: In vitro cultivation technician at ILVO, Merelbeke, Belgium

• Azra Gholami, Iranian, PhD – Left 2013 – Current position: Analytical Scientist at Dr. Reddy’s, Leiden, The Netherlands

• Sandra Soetaert, Belgian, PhD – Left 2013 – Current position: Project engineer at Pfizer, Puurs, Belgium

• Amparo Cuéllar Pérez, Spanish, PhD – Left 2013 – Current position: Scientific Consultant at Biogazelle, Gent, Belgium

• Gino Baart, Dutch, PhD – Left 2012 – Current position: Research Manager at Leuven Institute for Beer Research, Leuven, Belgium

• Lorena Almagro, Spanish, PhD – Left 2012 - Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain

• Miriam Onrubia Ibañez, Spanish, PhD – Left 2011 – Current position: In vitro propagation manager at Alkion Biopharma, Evry, France

• Lander Ingelbrecht, Belgian – Left 2011 – Current position: Technician at BASF, Gent, Belgium

• Jan Geerinck, Belgian, PhD – Left 2010 – Current position: Senior Agrobody Discovery Researcher at AgroSavfe, Gent, Belgium

• Miguel Gonzalez Guzman, Spanish, PhD – Left 2009 – Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Instituto de Biologia Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia - Valencia, Spain

• Sofie Tilleman, Belgian, PhD – Left 2009 – ✝ 2018

• Antonio Leon-Reyes, Ecuadorian, PhD– Left 2008 – Current position: Professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador

• Lies Maes, Belgian, PhD – Left 2009 – Current position: Teacher - Belgium

• Freya Lammertyn, Belgian – Left 2008 – Current position: Research associate - BASF - Gent, Belgium

• Seppe Mertens, Belgian – Left 2007 – Current position: IT Lead at Johnson & Johnson Pharma R&D, Beerse, Belgium

• Valerie De Sutter, Belgian, PhD – Left 2006 – Current position: Teacher - Gent, Belgium

• Chloë Van Oostende, French, PhD – Left 2004 – Current position: Microscope Facility Manager at Ottawa University, Montréal, Canada