The CRIG management translates the mission of CRIG into concrete action points

The CRIG Steering Committee consists of 8 elected CRIG group leaders from different faculties of Ghent University and representatives from Ghent University Hospital and VIB-UGent, ensuring the multidisciplinary character of CRIG. 

The Steering Committee is responsible for the strategic plan to translate CRIG's mission into concrete action. Amongst others, the Steering Committee promotes various CRIG initiatives through different task forces, involving symposia, workshops, education, communication with internal and external stakeholders, funding, networking and grant support. The Steering Committee directly interacts with the Operational Committee and the CRIG Business Unit to monitor and streamline all CRIG related initiatives. 

From end 2022 to 2025, Prof. Katleen De Preter is chairperson of the CRIG steering committee (and follows up the previous chairs Prof. Jo Vandesompele (2016-2019) and Prof. Olivier De Wever (2019-2022))

Under the direct supervision of the CRIG Steering Committee and its Chairman, the Operational Committee is responsible for the daily management and the implementation of the strategic plan, such as the coordination and organization of CRIG events, follow up of cancer research activities and initiation of new projects within CRIG, as well as networking and communication with different stakeholders. Dr. Pieter Rondou leads the Operational Committee as CRIG coordinator. The Operational Committee further consists of project & communication manager dr. Eva De Smedt, sosial media & event manager Charlotte Reynhout, and administrative assistant An Rose (and ad hoc members for specific CRIG initiatives).

Bringing medical innovations from the lab to the patient is at the heart of the CRIG initiative. The CRIG Business unit aims at building bridges among different oncology innovators by setting up strategic relations with industrial stakeholders and other key partners.

Experienced business development managers support CRIG researchers in setting up and managing collaborative innovation projects in the fields of biomarker discovery, omics, cell & tissue therapy, drug discovery & delivery, clinical research, chemical biology & technology, biobanking, medical devices, imaging and more. This team assists in IPRs management, business development, R&D partnering, licensing & venturing, and strategic research funding. The CRIG Business Unit operates in a multi-disciplinary and cross-organizational approach in close collaboration with the TechTransfer Office of Ghent University, the Health Innovation and Research Institute of UZ Gent (HIRUZ), and the HoWest. The committee also advises the CRIG Steering Committee concerning valorization strategies in the strategic plan. 


Dr. Cristina Pintucci, project manager, is the main contact person of the CRIG Business Unit.

• dr. Daisy Flamez – UGent, IOF consortium ‘Biomarked’, focus on biomarkers, diagnostics and omics
• dr. An Van den Bulcke and dr. Valentina Goftman – UGent, IOF consortium ‘ChemTech’, focus on biomaterial for life science applications
• dr. Tim Desmet – UGent and UZ Gent, IOF consortium ‘Cell & tissue therapy’, focus on living cells and tissue engineering-based therapies
• Sarah Braet (RPh.) – UGent, IOF consortium ‘Discovere’, focus on drug discovery, delivery and manufacturing
• dr. Gilles Brackman – UGent, IOF consortium ‘MedTeg’, focus on medical device technologies
• HIRUZ (Health & Innovation Research Institute UZ Gent)
• Paco Hulpiau - Research coordinator for bioinformatics at HoWest (Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen, university of applied sciences)
   

For collaborations with VIB, the CRIG business unit is supported by the business and innovation center of the VIB-UGent (dr. Griet Verhaegen).