Elke De Bruyne completed a masters degree in Biomedical Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). After obtaining her masters degree, she started her scientific career as a PhD student at the Department of Hematology and Immunology (HEIM) at VUB (Prof. Ben Van Camp and Prof. Karin Vanderkerken). The topic of her PhD was the role of endothelial cells in bone marrow microenvironment-induced modulation of gene-expression of multiple myeloma cells. After obtaining a post-doctoral fellowship of the FWO-Vlaanderen, she remained member of the HEIM lab and became principal investigator for the study on epigenetics in MM focusing on the epigenetic regulation of malignant plasma cells within the supportive bone marrow and the therapeutic and diagnostic potential of broad acting epigenetic modulating agents (e.g. pan-HDACi and DNMTi) in MM.

Currently, she holds a faculty position and supervises a growing team of researchers focussing on epigenetic modifiers and their role in drug resistance in MM and cancer in general. Besides this topic, she is also involved in research projects aiming to explore the therapeutic potential of targeting mitotic exit in combination with standard of care agents for high grade B cell malignancies. Since 2015, she is a member of the scientific committee ‘KomOpTegenKanker’ (expert panel). In 2017, she also became a member of the OPINNO steering committee (flanders.bio)