I was trained as a biomedical researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), and completed my PhD in 2006 in the Hematology and Immunology (HEIM) lab, headed by Prof. Vanderkerken on the role of chemokines in Multiple Myeloma. Thereafter, I performed a 1-year post-doctoral stay at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University (USA) at the lab of Prof. S. Chen-Kiang on the topic of cell cycle regulation in MM cells. In 2007, I returned to the HEIM lab to set-up my own research team. My team utilizes in-depth cancer biology techniques and has access to the 5TMM models, fully syngeneic in vivo models to investigate MM biology. The goal of my team is to identify novel mechanisms of myeloma development and drug resistance and translate these findings into novel therapeutic targets. Since 2015, I hold a Faculty Position (Research Professor) at the VUB.

My major contributions to the field include the characterization of how exosomal crosstalk is involved in MM pathobiology (9 papers with 1 Blood paper); identification of  metabolic vulnerabilities in MM cells as novel therapeutic targets to treat MM patients (6 papers with the latest in Haematologica) and identifying NKT cells as an immunotherapeutic cell type in MM (6 papers, 1 Leukemia, 1 in JITCC). My current interest combines my knowledge on cell metabolism and immune therapy to produce metabolic superior CAR T cells (1 review in EHO, and 2 papers in JHO and EHO respectively).