Projects per year
Personal profile
Expertise
C. Spits studied Biology at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. After obtaining an Advanced Master’s degree in genetics and cell biology in 2002, she moved to Brussels to pursue a PhD at Vrije Universiteit Brussel under the supervision of Prof. Liebaers. In December 2006, she defended her thesis “(R)evolution in preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Development and clinical application of different approaches to preimplantation genetic diagnosis for monogenic disorders", for which she received the Ignace Vanderscheuren Award for the best PhD dissertation in Biomedical Sciences at VUB for the period 2006‐2012. From 2007 until 2014, C. Spits was a postdoctoral fellow supported by the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen at the Research Group Reproduction and Genetics, VUB. From December 2008 until February 2009, she was an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Colombo (Sri Lanka).
Since February 2022, C. Spits is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the VUB, where she teaches stem cell biology. She is the principal investigator of a growing team focusing on genomic regulators of cell fate, specializing in early human development and pluripotent stem cells. She has been granted €5.4 million for research projects as supervisor and principal investigator (e.g., Methusalem, FWO), 21 Master and 11 PhD students have completed their dissertations under her supervision, and her team currently counts 1 postdoctoral researcher and 4 PhD students in different stages of their doctoral training. She has 72 peer-reviewed publications, of which 26 as last author, including 4 publications in Nature Biotechnology, 1 in Nature Protocols and 2 in Nature Communications.
In addition to publishing, C. Spits is strongly involved in sharing scientific knowledge through meetings and societies, and in contributing to the process of peer-review of both papers and grant applications. She is a reviewer for numerous journals and associate editor for three (Human Reproduction 2012-2015, Cells from 2019-2021, Molecular Human Reproduction 2024-2026) and has been asked as expert reviewer by several granting agencies, both national and international (e.g., ZonW -Netherlands, MRC - UK). From 2011 until 2019, she was very active within the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), where she coordinated the special interest group Reproduction and Genetics, and contributed to several opinion and policy papers. This has strengthened her visibility in her community of peers and has greatly facilitated networking with scientists and practitioners in the domain of developmental biology and reproductive medicine. It is also through this network that she engaged as supervisor in two joint PhDs, with Josep Santalo (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain) and Luca Gianaroli (University of Teramo, Italy). C. Spits is the founder and current president of the Belgian Society for Stem Cell Research, which had its first meeting in 2014. She been continuously involved in the steering of the society, and has organized its 2023, 2024 and 2025 meetings in Brussels. She has been the Belgian national representative for the human pluripotent stem cell registry since 2020 and a board member of the International Stem Cell Initiative.
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- 12 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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FWOTM1310: Liver organoids to study if aneuploidy primes human pluripotent stem-cell derived hepatocytes for oncogenic transformation.
Huyghebaert, A. (Mandate), Spits, C. (Administrative Promotor) & Al Delbany, D. (CoI (Co-Promotor))
1/11/25 → 31/10/29
Project: Fundamental
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BASGO23: OZR Basisfinanciering voor Grote Onderzoeksgroepen - GRAD
Spits, C. (Administrative Promotor) & Sermon, K. (Administrative Promotor)
1/01/24 → 31/12/30
Project: Fundamental
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FWOAL1071: Liver and brain organoids to model human pluripotent stem cell tumorigenesis
Spits, C. (Administrative Promotor)
1/01/23 → 31/12/26
Project: Fundamental
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OZRMETH9: The Genetic Component to Infertility and Early Developmental Failure
Spits, C. (Administrative Promotor) & Sermon, K. (Administrative Promotor)
1/01/23 → 31/12/29
Project: Fundamental
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HERC53: Seahorse platform: the Agilent Seahorse Flux Analyser with integrated normalization system
Massie, A. (Administrative Promotor), Stiens, J. (Co-Promotor), Van Ginderachter, J. (Co-Promotor), Vanommeslaeghe, K. (Co-Promotor), Vinken, M. (Co-Promotor), Menu, E. (Co-Promotor), Spits, C. (Co-Promotor) & Njemini, R. (Co-Promotor)
1/05/20 → 30/04/27
Project: Fundamental
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Improving rigor and reproducibility through implementation of the ISSCR standards for human stem cell use in research
Fischer, Y., Mosher, J., Barbaric, I., Spits, C. & Pera, M. F., 10 Mar 2026, In: Stem Cell Reports. 21, 3, 8 p., 102780.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access2 Citations (Scopus) -
The development of a liver organoid model using insertional mutagenesis to study the oncogenic capacity of human pluripotent stem cell -derived hepatocytes
Huyghebaert, A., Krivec, N. (Contributor), Duong, M. C. (Contributor), van Grunsven, L. A. (Contributor), Al Delbany, D. (Contributor) & Spits, C. (Contributor), 17 Apr 2026, (Unpublished).Research output: Unpublished contribution to conference › Poster
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1q gain bypasses the selective barrier against aneuploidy in RPE differentiation via wild-type co-culture rescue
Couvreu De Deckersberg, E., Lei, Y., Krivec, N., Huyghebaert, A., Duong, M. C., Janssens, C., Regin, M., Tsuiko, O., Movahedi, K., Verhulst, S., van Grunsven, L. A., Sermon, K., Al Delbany, D. & Spits, C., 25 Nov 2025, In: Nature Communications. 16, 1, 15 p., 11627.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)29 Downloads (Pure) -
A call to action for deciphering genetic variants in human pluripotent stem cells for cell therapy
Benvenisty, N., Draper, J. S., Gokhale, P. J., Healy, L. E., Hewitt, Z., Hursh, D., Hodgson, A., Ludwig, T., Mah, N., McClelland, S., Mennecozzi, M., Merkle, F. T., Mountford, J. C., Pera, M. F., Prigione, A., Rodriguez, T., Rossi, A., Rouhani, F., Saeb-Parsy, K. & Selfa Aspiroz, L. & 4 others, , 3 Apr 2025, In: Cell Stem Cell. 32, 4, p. 508-512 5 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile8 Citations (Scopus)24 Downloads (Pure) -
Aneuploidy as a first genetic hit that enhances the tumorigenic capacity of differentiated human pluripotent stem cells
Al Delbany, D., Mampay, M., Srinivasan, A. N., Krivec, N., Huyghebaert, A., Movahedi, K. & Spits, C., 12 Jun 2025.Research output: Unpublished contribution to conference › Poster
Datasets
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Protocols Spits Lab
Spits, C. (Creator) & Verloes, A. (Creator), Open Science Framework, 28 Jul 2025
Dataset
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1q Gain Bypasses The Selective Barrier Against Aneuploidy In RPE Differentiation Via Wild-Type Co-Culture Rescue
Spits, C. (Creator), Couvreu De Deckersberg, E. (Creator) & Verloes, A. (Data Manager), OSF, 18 Sept 2023
Dataset
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Impacts of Gli1 on Fibro/Adipogenic Progenitors Adipogenesis
Spits, C. (Creator), National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 Oct 2024
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA1172971
Dataset
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Impacts of Gli1 on Fibro/Adipogenic Progenitors Proliferation
Spits, C. (Creator), National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 Oct 2024
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA1172920/
Dataset
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Mitochondrial DNA variants segregate during human preimplantation development into genetically different cell lineages that are maintained postnatally
Spits, C. (Creator), Open Science Framework, 7 Jan 2025
Dataset
Activities
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Rho/ROCK signalling governs the trophectoderm fate in human pre-implantation embryos
Pancken, F. (Speaker), Tryfonos, M. (Contributor), Stamatiadis, P. (Contributor), Bouclier, N. M. (Contributor), De Munck, N. (Contributor), Wouters, K. (Contributor), Tournaye, H. (Contributor), Spits, C. (Contributor), Sermon, K. (Contributor) & Van De Velde, H. (Contributor)
7 May 2026 → 8 Dec 2026Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference
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Liver organoids to study if aneuploidy primes human pluripotent stem-cell derived hepatocytes for oncogenic transformation
Huyghebaert, A. (Participant), Al Delbany, D. (Supervisor) & Spits, C. (Supervisor)
1 Nov 2025 → 31 Oct 2029Activity: Other › Written proposal
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Hepatic stellate cell activation: Improving models, biomarkers and therapeutic targets. (Event)
Merens, V. (Presenter), Stijlemans, B. (Jury), van Grunsven, L. (Member), Spits, C. (Chair), Verhulst, S. (Member), De Kock, J. (Jury), Al Delbany, D. (Jury), Scott, C. L. (Jury) & Eeckhout, J. (Jury)
27 Oct 2025Activity: Membership › Member of PhD committee
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SALL3 drives selective growth advantage and modulates pluripotency in hPSCs with chromosome 18q loss
Duong, C. M. (Presenter), Krivec, N. (Contributor), Al Delbany, D. (Contributor), Huyghebaert, A. (Contributor) & Spits, C. (Contributor)
28 Nov 2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference
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Regulators of cell fate decisions in human pre-implantation embryos (Event)
Leyns, L. (Jury), Regin, M. (Presenter), Sermon, K. (Supervisor) & Spits, C. (Supervisor)
28 Mar 2024Activity: Membership › Member of PhD committee
Press/Media
Thesis
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(R)evolution in preimplantation genetic diagnosis : development and clinical application of different approaches to preimplantation genetic diagnosis for monogenic disorders.
Spits, C. ((PhD) Student), Liebaers, I. (Promotor), Sermon, K. (Co-promotor), De Rycke, M. (Co-promotor), Van Schravendijk, C. (Jury), Van Der Auwera, B. (Jury), Geraedts, J. (Jury), Harper, J. (Jury), Santalo Pedro, J. (Jury), De Paepe, A. (Jury), Legius, E. (Jury) & Timmerman, V. (Jury), Liebaers, I. (Promotor), Sermon, K. (Co-promotor), De Rycke, M. (Co-promotor), Van Schravendijk, C. (Jury), Van Der Auwera, B. (Jury), Geraedts, J. (Jury), Harper, J. C. (Jury), Santalo Pedro, J. (Jury), De Paepe, A. (Jury), Legius, E. (Jury) & Timmerman, V. (Jury), 4 Dec 2006Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis
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Assessing tumorigenicity in HESCs carrying Chromosomal abnormalities in brain and liver organoid models
Ghijselings, K. ((PhD) Student), Al Delbany, D. (Co-promotor), Huyghebaert, A. (Co-promotor) & Spits, C. (Promotor), 29 May 2026Student thesis: Master's Thesis
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Generation of brain organoids and induction of mutagenesis by lentiviral transduction
Mohimi, N. ((PhD) Student), Al Delbany, D. (Promotor) & Spits, C. (Promotor), 2022Student thesis: Master's Thesis
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Study the effect of chromosomal abnormalities on the neuroectoderm differentiation of hESCs in two and three-dimensional culture systems
Asadi, R. ((PhD) Student), Al Delbany, D. (Co-promotor), Krivec, N. (Co-promotor) & Spits, C. (Promotor), 28 Jul 2024Student thesis: Master's Thesis
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The use of brain organoids to study oncogenic transformation of human pluripotent stem cells
Khallouk Temsamani, I. ((PhD) Student), Al Delbany, D. (Co-promotor) & Spits, C. (Promotor), 14 Jun 2024Student thesis: Master's Thesis