Experience

2021-present

Assistant Professor, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NL. 

2019-2021

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellow and EMBO non-stipendiary Long-Term Fellow, Utrecht University, Utrecht, NL. 

Education

2014-2018                     

PhD in Structural Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.

Grant number: (102572/B/13/Z). Title of project: Structural studies of non-enveloped viruses associated with human diseases.

2010-2014                

BSc (Hons) Microbiology (Industrial), University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, Awarded First Class.

Selected Personal Grants

ERC Starting Grant, Grant number (PicAAA; 101164550). Title of project: “Getting to grips with AAA+ ATPases encoded by positive-strand RNA viruses”. Amount: €1,550,000. Period: Five years.

NWO Veni Grant, Grant number (VI.Veni.212.102). Title of project: “Unraveling the functions of the enterovirus 2C protein using integrative structural biology”. Amount: €280,000. Period: Three years.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, Grant number: (842333). Title of project: Structural and functional studies of enterovirus 2C proteins: promising targets for antiviral therapy. Amount: €175,572.48. Period: Two years.

Selected Honors and Awards

2025 - Kluyver Award, The KNVM board makes the Albert Kluyver award available to microbiologists currently employed at Dutch institutions with an outstanding contribution to microbiology within eight years after obtaining their PhD.

2023 - Beijerinck Premium, Established in 2002, this award recognises talented researchers at the start of their careers who conduct excellent virus-oriented research and thus set an example for other young virologists. The Beijerinck Premium is awarded annually by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The laureate receives a cash prize of €25,000 to spend on virus-oriented research. 

2022 - Van Leeuwenhoek Award, The KNVM/NVMM science committee offers the Van Leeuwenhoek Awards to young Postdocs in microbiology (5 years after obtaining your PhD) for the best publication as first, last and/or corresponding author.

2020 - BBS Kendrew Doctoral Thesis Prize, Established in 2019 by the British Biophysical Society and is awarded biennially for an outstanding PhD thesis in biophysics for which the principal work has been carried out in the UK or Ireland.

2019 - VC Jordan/PR Radford Prize, Awarded annually to the best PhD student thesis in the Astbury Centre, University of Leeds, UK.

2018 - Alumnus of the 68th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, Nominated by the University of Leeds and the Royal Society and then selected by the scientific review panel of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

2017 - Sir Howard Dalton Young Microbiologist of the Year, Microbiology Society, Nominated for the award after presenting at the annual conference in Edinburgh. Invited to present again against six other finalists and was chosen as the winner by a panel of judges.

Professional Courses

• Basic Education Qualification Course
• Research Leadership Development Programme
• Start to Teach Programme
• Supervising PhD candidates at the Graduate School of Life Sciences

Memberships

• International Society for Antiviral Research
• Association of ERC Grantees
• The Netherlands Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Microbiology Society
• Marie Curie Alumni Association
• Royal Netherlands Society for Microbiology
• Lindau Alumni Network