prof. Jo Vandesompele (PhD)

CRIG group leader
Jo Vandesompele

 

  • Principal investigator - OncoRNALab, Center for Medical Genetics (UGent)
  • Full professor (Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UGent)
  • Co-founder pxlence
  • Co-founder and Director Scientific Initiatives at Biogazelle, now a CellCarta company 
  • Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at InActiv Blue 
  • Co-founder of CRIG & former chairman of the CRIG steering committee (2016-2019)

 

Research focus

The lab’s research aims to exploit RNA for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. The various research lines converge on studying the role of non-coding RNA (long non-coding RNA and circular RNA) in cancer, on the utility of extracellular nucleic acids in liquid biopsies, and on the spatial analysis of nucleic acids in tumor tissue. Apart from providing novel fundamental insights, the research also aims for clinical applications. Through a combination of high-throughput (functional) genomics technologies, custom method development, and bio-informatics tools, we seek to answer various fundamental and translational research questions.   
 

Biography

Jo Vandesompele obtained a Master of Science in Bioscience Engineering (1997) and a PhD in Medical Genetics (2002). Since 2007, he is professor in Functional Cancer Genomics and Applied Bioinformatics at Ghent University. He is author of more than 250 scientific articles in international journals, including some pioneering publications in the domain of nucleic acid quantification and non-coding RNA. His H-index is 79, with over 48,000 citations (Web of Science, March 2023). Jo is a frequently invited speaker at international conferences and symposia. Jo was one of the CRIG co-founders and chairman of the first steering committee (2016-2019).
 

Research team

Key publications

Contact & links