Een aantal internationale professoren aan KU Leuven, waaronder ik, schreef dit opinie-artikel in De Standaard. Deze krant had onlangs kritiek op de 'verengelsing' van de academische wereld - onder andere het publiceren van PhD thesissen in de Engelse taal. www.standaard.be/opinies/vlaa...

Vlaanderen futureproof maken lukt alleen met Engelse taalvaardigheid

Door het Engels te omarmen als lingua franca in academisch onderzoek wissen we onze Vlaamse wortels niet uit, schrijft een groep internationale professoren van de KU Leuven. We zetten de deuren open voor samenwerking, investeringen en talent.

standaard.be

Run for tomorrow - donate.kuleuven.cloud/crowdfunding... You may know that I am an avid runner, for >35 years. The older, the more motivated I became. Last year, I ran my first full marathon. When I crossed the finish line, I thought: "This was the toughest thing I’ve ever done (beside a PhD)."

Run for Tomorrow: Antwerpen Marathon tegen kanker

Ik ben Emeric Bomans, student in mijn tweede bachelor geneeskunde aan de KU Leuven. Kanker vormt één van de grootste uitdagingen in de geneeskunde. Maar voor mij werd deze ziekte plots ...

donate.kuleuven.cloud

Our most recent paper, in ACS Chem Biol is now online. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... We describe quenched fluorescent ABPs for Neutrophil Serine Proteases and their application in real-time imaging of neutrophil activation.

Mixed Alkyl Aryl Phosphonates as Quenched Activity-Based Probes for Real-Time Imaging of Active Neutrophil Serine Proteases

Activity-based probes have been instrumental in the study of proteases, and quenched fluorescent versions can be utilized in real time imaging. Unfortunately, this application has not yet been reporte...

pubs.acs.org

Because of preparation for the new semester haven't had time yet to write about this. Two weeks ago, I participated in the yearly University Trail @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social with post-doc Roeland Vanhoutte, PhD student Femke Speelman-Rooms and her co-promotor Flore Sneyers

The 5th Virtual @chembiotalks.bsky.social on September 30th are one week away. We have an exciting program including our keynotes Sarah O'Connor (@oconnorlab.bsky.social) and @craigmcrews.bsky.social. Make sure to register for free: web.cvent.com/event/... #ChemSky #ChemBio

Monday, during the first session of the Polish Peptide Symposium, there was a power outage. Speaker Anna Wardowska went in front of the audience anyway and held an impressive talk without slides about peptides as immune regulators. Fortunately for other speakers, electricity was back within 20 min.

Polish peptide symposium at a wellness hotel in Szklarska Poreba. Starting the day well with a 1.5h treadmill run...

There are still 6 days left to apply for these two positions in my lab! 1 PhD student position in Organic Synthesis (focus on carbohydrates) and one in Cell Biology/Biochemistry.

Verhelst Lab@verhelstlab.bsky.social · 12mo ago

My lab has two open positions! One in Organic Chemistry (focus on carbohydrates), one in Cell Biology/Biochemistry. Deadline Sept 3rd, 2025! PhD student Organic Synthesis: www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo... PhD student Cell Biology/Biochemistry: www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...

Our latest manuscript has now appeared in Analytical Chemistry! We designed SODA (sulfoxide-diazirine). It enables photoaffinity labeling and subsequent MS-based cleavage of the probe, leaving a small fingerprint on the modified digested peptide. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Sulfoxide-diazirine (SODA) as a Cleavable Photoaffinity Group To Enable the Identification of Photolabeled Modification Sites via LC–MS3

Photoaffinity labeling is a common approach in chemical proteomics for the identification of small-molecule probe targets. However, the modification site on the target protein remains difficult to ide...

pubs.acs.org

My lab has two open positions! One in Organic Chemistry (focus on carbohydrates), one in Cell Biology/Biochemistry. Deadline Sept 3rd, 2025! PhD student Organic Synthesis: www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo... PhD student Cell Biology/Biochemistry: www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...

PhD student in Organic Synthesis

Organic synthesis in chemical biology project

kuleuven.be

Vacation to Norway (by train and ferry) without laptop. Only replied to emails if highly urgent. It was a relaxing vacation with nature, museums and running. On the evening I got back, exhausted, I went into the moshpit a Therapy? concert in my hometown Leuven. Feeling 17 again. Battery recharged.

Our department has an open position for a research professor in Translational Research on Molecular Mechanisms of Prostate Cancer. For more details, see: www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo... Deadline for application: Sept 2, 2025

Research professor in Translational Research on Molecular Mechanisms of Prostate Cancer (BOFZAP)

The Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine – KU Leuven is recruiting a professor in Translational Research on Molecular Mechanisms of Prostate Cancer.

kuleuven.be

We are about to finalize the program for this year's Virtual ChemBioTalks and we are very excited about the lineup we have been able to put together including our keynotes Craig Crews and Sarah O’Connor. Already mark your calendars for September 30th at 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. CEST! #ChemBio #ChemSky

I cannot stay quiet about what happens in the US. Today, I read that the current US president bars Harvard University from enrolling international students. As an undergraduate, I spent 6-7 months at Harvard in the lab of Hidde Ploegh. This has had a bit impact on my career.

Balancing academic life - what does that mean? I think this is highly dependent on you as a person! What are your needs? What do you want to do or achieve outside your job?

I am happy to share that my post-doc Denise-Liu Leone, who very recently joined my lab, obtained a @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social junior post-doc fellowship. Her enthusiasm and dedication are inspiring, and I look forward to working with her.

Last Saturday, I attended - unfortunately not live, but hybrid - the retirement symposium of Prof. Hidde Ploegh. I enjoyed presentations of @kesslerbenedikt001.bsky.social @mbogyo.bsky.social, Domenic Tortorella, various other alumni of the lab, and of course of Hidde himself

Last week, I attended a networking event of the lab where I did my PhD: Biosyn in Leiden, since early 2000s led by Hermen Overkleeft. My presentation was about balancing academic life. Because I had the feeling, at several points in my career, that I was on the edge of failure and success

I haven't posted at Bluesky for quite a while, but a lot of things happened. I'm just getting back from a 10k race and am full of adrenaline, so no going-to-bed yet. Instead, I'll share some of my thoughts and experiences here... (no thread, see other posts; btw Verhoeven is one of my fav directors)

a woman with a bald head is being examined by a doctor and the words get ready for a surprise are above her

ALT: a woman with a bald head is being examined by a doctor and the words get ready for a surprise are above her

media.tenor.com

Great start of the third day of #ABPP2025 with an impressive lecture of Ben Cravatt on the power of stereoprobes for ABPP. Some further highlights so far include Markus Lakemeyer's work on identification of a B.fragidis protease that processes PAR2, and Alexey Nesvizhskii on FragPipe.

Second day of #ABPP2025 was filled with highly interesting presentations. I'll highlight here the talks of Balyn Zaro on different subsets of microphones and the redeployment membrane proteins of targeted cells on the surface of macrophages.

Great keynote of @mbogyo.bsky.social to kick off the second day of #ABPP2025 Impressive progress on probes for image guided surgery and for detection of Staphylococcus aureus.

Wearing my nerdiest t-shirt at the second day of #ABPP2025. Beware, the backside is even worse...

Good start of the second day of #ABPP2025. After a slow 5k run, I set off the fire alarm in my studio room while frying up some bacon and eggs. Those bacon rashers came out crisp, real crisp.

On Sunday, #ABPP2025 kicked off well with an inspiring keynote of Emily Balskus, a great, resourceful talk of Stephan Hacker, impressive results by Chris Parker and thought provoking screening assays by Matt Child.

Just returning from a 17km run through Regent's park and Hyde park, before going to the Crick Institute for #ABPP2025

A bit early due to an alternative train schedule (trainstrike), I'm on my way to London for #ABPP2025 Meeting up with my friend @mbogyo.bsky.social tonight prior to the conference start tomorrow.

Yesterday, I participated in a local trail run in Bierbeek, close to Leuven, together with PhD students Femke and Jonathan. Fun event and good to keep your life balanced!

Back in the lab to try out some chemistry myself!

I've just wrote a post about grant writing, when I saw this. Indeed shocking numbers of percentage of time some scientists spend at grant writing. Also important, grant writing slows down innovation! In this thread, an example from my own lab during the COVID-19 crisis.

Thiago Carvalho@cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 2y ago

"Polls have shown that principal investigator biologists now spend up to 40 percent of their time—it’s a shocking number, 40 percent of their time—writing grants." www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/01/harv...