Biography

· Born in Geraardsbergen, Belgium in 1978.

· Received master’s diploma in bioscience engineering - chemistry from Ghent University, Belgium, in 2001, under the guidance of Prof. N. De Kimpe, topic: “New entries to β-amino acid derivatives”

· PhD obtained at Ghent University, 2006, Promotor: Prof. N. De Kimpe, topic: “New syntheses of β-aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acid derivatives and study of their reactivity”

· September 2004: Research stay, Prof. F. Fülöp, Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, Hungary

· October 2006 – September 2012: Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) at Ghent University with Prof. N. De Kimpe.

· June-September 2010: Postdoctoral research stay, Prof. D. Enders, Institute of Organic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen, Germany

· October 2012 – September 2013: Postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University with Prof. C. Stevens

· October 2013 – present: Associate Professor at Ghent University

· Nominated to participate in the 1^st EUCHEMs Organic Division Young Investigator's Workshop in Liblice, Czech Republic, July 16-18, 2009.

· Thieme Chemistry Journal Award 2013

· Main research interests: chemistry of non-proteinogenic amino acids with focus on conformationally constrained β-amino acids, chemistry of small-membered azaheterocycles, chemistry of natural products, isolation and synthesis of bioactive natural products, stereoselective synthesis

· Member of the CropFit - expertise network on biostimulants and biocontrol, BioMolecules IOF-valorisation consortium with central theme the microbial production and synthesis of bio-based molecules, together with their biotech and chemical engineering tools, and ‘Marine@UGent’ knowledge cluster.

· International collaboration with the University of Szeged (Hungary), Kaunas University (Lithuania), Mersin University (Turkey), University of Kragujevac (Serbia), University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin), University of Padova (Italy), China Pharmaceutical University (China)

· Served as referee for the following international journals: J. Org. Chem., J. Am. Chem. Soc., J. Organomet. Chem., Org. Lett., Synlett, Synthesis, Tetrahedron, Tetrahedron Lett., Molecules, J. Comb. Chem., Adv. Synth. Catal., Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol., Amino Acids, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Curr. Org. Chem., Curr. Green Chem., RSC Advances