Experience

Mithra

• Belgium
• Biotechnology Research
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Non Clinical Study Leader

  • Feb 2023 - Present



Maastro

• Netherlands
• Hospitals and Health Care
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Research Scientist

  • Jan 2020 - Feb 2023

  Tumor control by radiotherapy is limited by dose-limiting adverse effects, which negatively affects the quality of life of cancer patients. 40-70% of lung cancer patients often suffer from co-morbidities such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which further reduce their tolerance to combination treatment and chance for tumor control. We have shown that NOTCH signaling pathway promotes healthy bronchial stem cell self renewal and barrier integrity upon irradiation while still maintaining its antitumor efficacy in NSCLC spheroids. Comparable results were obtained after in vivo irradiation, where the combination of NOTCH inhibition and irradiation increased the percentage of stem cells and ciliated cells. However, the mechanism through which NOTCH inhibition integrates with airway repair and treatment response in COPD lung stem cells is unknown. I use primary bronchial stem cells, from lung cancer patients undergoing lobectomy, and 3D stem cell models to unravel the mechanism of action of NOTCH inhibitors to prevent healthy and COPD stem cell loss upon irradiation. My current model reflects clinical behavior and disclose novel interactions between NOTCH inhibition and radiotherapy in healthy and COPD stem cells. Show less



Maastricht University

• Netherlands
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Doctoral Student

  • Sep 2015 - Dec 2019

  NOTCH signaling and radiotherapy response in lung stem cells. There is urgent need to reduce normal tissue toxicity derived from lung cancer treatments. Inhibiting the NOTCH pathway represents an interesting therapeutic option in lung cancer treatment, since it has been shown that NOTCH promotes survival of lung cancer cells, treatment resistance and tumour growth in vivo models. However, the role of NOTCH signaling pathway in response to irradiation in normal lung epithelium was heretofore unknown. We found that NOTCH inhibition increases TP63+basal progenitors and ciliated cells and decreases mucous cells alone and when combined with radiation. In irradiated cultures we observed more proliferating TP63+cells which retained stemness capability and showed less DNA damage when compared to irradiated cultures. These data support the use of normal patient tissue for predictive toxicity models, screening of combination treatments and disclose important novel interactions between NOTCH inhibition and radiotherapy. Show less



Curie Institute

• Biotechnology Research
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Visiting Researcher

  • 2019 - 2019

  During my Ph.D I established a fruitful collaboration to study whether FLASH radiotherapy spares the quiescent lung epithelial stem cells and thus preserves the regenerative capacity of the lung after irradiation. In this study we used primary human bronchial epithelial cells (PBECs) from lung cancer patients undergoing lobectomy and we irradiated them with conventional and Flash radiotherapy, with different doses. We found that compared with conventional radiotherapy, FLASH minimizes DNA damage in normal cells, spares lung progenitor cells from excessive damage, and reduces the risk of replicative senescence. Show less



Università degli Studi dell'Aquila

• Italy
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Master Thesis Student

  • Sep 2014 - Oct 2015

  Master’s Thesis research project: The biological Effects of Testosterone in Prostate Cancer Cells Grown under Hypogonadal Conditions Master’s Thesis research project: The biological Effects of Testosterone in Prostate Cancer Cells Grown under Hypogonadal Conditions



Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla: IBiS

• Seville, Andalusia, Spain

• Research Assistant

  • Mar 2015 - Jul 2015

  Research project on Evaluation of Prohibitin expression as a co- chaperone of p53 during antitumoural treatments, laboratory of Oncology, Surgery, Cell Therapy and Transplant Organs, IBIS Research project on Evaluation of Prohibitin expression as a co- chaperone of p53 during antitumoural treatments, laboratory of Oncology, Surgery, Cell Therapy and Transplant Organs, IBIS