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...

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)."

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.

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.

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....

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...

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

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)

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.

A few weeks ago, I held a lecture about grant writing for my course "Information & Communication Skills 3". In their last exercise for this course, the students need to write a mini research proposal. I also discussed a few negative aspects of the need for grant writing.

Yeah, I like proteases as well as Charles Bukowski books. So I asked chatGPT to stich them together... "Proteases, those scrappy little enzymes; they know how to cut through the noise—literally. They slice and dice proteins like a drunk with a broken bottle, shaping life’s gritty, molecular chaos.

Yesterday's journal club session brought another compound characterization quiz to sharpen the NMR and MS skills of lab members. Classic exercises on finding compound structures based on 1H & 13C NMR or finding the molecular formula based on MS.

This looks like an interesting application of the oxSTEF probes developed in the Poulsen lab before. Good example of developing interesting chemistry/chemical biology and then asking the right biological questions.

On the menu tonight: a biiiig salad, with some garlic bread and pasta with gorgonzola sauce on the side. Paired with a piraat tiple hop. Yes, I'm hungry! #chemistswhocook

This week our 3rd year BSc students biomedical sciences perform their poster pitches for my communication skills course. In 11 sessions, we judge approx 180 students on their poster presentation skills. To save paper, we project posters on large flatscreen TVs. Overall, students perform very well.

Hello #chemicalbiology community on bluesky! Some of you may know my lab. We work on covalent chemical probes with a main focus on proteases. #abpp #chemicalproteomics You can visit www.verhelstlab.net or check our papers on pubmed.

This is my first post on bluesky! Please check out our most recently accepted paper on oxo-beta-lactams as inhibitors for the human intramembrane protease PARL. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...