Postdoctoral researchers
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Elly De Vlieghere
Biography: Elly obtained her MSc in biomedical science with a major in genetics at Ghent University. She received a IWT (2009) grand and perused a PhD in medical science ‘Biomimics of the peritoneal tumor-environment’ (2015) at the laboratory for experimental cancer research. During her post-doc (FWO fellow) she further specialized in creating clinical relevant in vitro and in vivo models by implementing tissue engineering technology. Currently she is working on CUSTOMEAT a FWO-SBO project with the goal to increase knowledge in vitro culture of muscle cells in a 3D manner with the purpose to culture meat.
Current project: CustoMeat
Dr. Kristyna Kolouchova
Biography: Kristyna obtained her master’s degree in Chemistry in 2016, at the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (Czechia). Her master thesis was focused on organometallic synthesis, in particular in Fisher Biscarbene Complexes. During her thesis, she became interested in macromolecular chemistry and biomaterials which led her to begin her Ph.D. studies at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, joining the group of M. Hruby. During her Ph.D. research, she focused on the design and development of conceptually new polymeric tracers for fluorine-19 magnetic resonance imaging with therapeutic properties. She prepared several particle- and implant-based systems for combined therapeutic and diagnostic (theranostic) applications in medicine. Besides polymeric tracers, she also studied the properties of a variety of thermoresponsive and amphiphilic polymers, with a focus on their self-assembly behavior. During her Ph.D., Kristyna has co-authored 9 peer-review papers and participated in multiple international conferences. After obtaining her Ph.D. in 2020, she was granted an FWO junior postdoctoral fellowship, with a project promoted by prof. Van Vlierberghe combining her previous studies on fluorinated polymeric traces with hydrogels for applications in regenerative medicine.
Current project: Thermoresponsive Poly[N-(2,2-difluorethylacrylamide)] 19F MRI Tracer-Based Materials as Potential Multipurpose Theranostics
Dr. Ianina Pokholenko
Biography:
Ianina obtained her MSc in biology at the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” (Ukraine). Afterwards, she started her research activities at the Institute of Molecular biology and Genetics of NAS of Ukraine, and presented a PhD dissertation in molecular genetics “Construction of model DNA vaccine and ways to enhance its immunogenic properties” (2022) at the Department of Cell Regulatory Mechanisms. Her current research interests lie in the area of the development of functionalized collagen scaffolds for MSC 3D culture, for in vivo delivery of recombinant proteins, like FGF-2 and etc., and the development of biomimetic 3D models for the in vitro studies of biofilm formation and for the development of new approaches to treat biofilm-related infections.