The team

People

A multidisciplinary team, bioengineers, chemists, microbiologists and technicians working at the single-cell scale on microbial population dynamics and bioprocess control.

Frank Delvigne

Professor – Principal Investigator

Frank Delvigne

Frank is a professor of bioengineering at Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, a position he has held since 2015. His academic journey began with a PhD in bioprocess scale-up/down, where he developed stochastic models to predict the microenvironment encountered by cells in large-scale bioreactors. Following his PhD, he conducted postdoctoral research at INSA Toulouse in France, focusing on the characterization of cell population dynamics and diversification (phenotypic and genotypic). Recently, this research led to the discovery of the Fitness-Entropy compensation rule, a fundamental principle that can be applied to various cellular systems to predict the mechanisms and intensity of phenotypic diversification, as well as its impact on cellular entropy. Frank’s research expertise is complemented by his teaching responsibilities, which include courses on mathematical modeling of dynamic systems, systems and synthetic biology, bioprocess engineering, and more applied topics such as project-based courses on the production of valuable compounds by microbes, bioreactor operations in the lab and single-cell analyses.

Postdoctoral researchers & associates

3
Romain Bouchat
Romain Bouchat
Postdoctoral
My expertise lies in optimizing bioreactor cultivation and co-cultivation, as well as utilizing single-cell technologies like microfluidics and cytometry.
Laurie Josselin
Laurie Josselin
Postdoctoral
My expertise lies in linking biology and chemistry through analytical chemistry, specializing in analyses for biological models.
Juan Andrés Martínez Álvarez
Juan Andrés Martínez Álvarez
Research Associate
I am an expert in systems biotechnology and bioengineering, specializing in understanding cell regulation through a cybernetic approach.

PhD students

10
Fanny Howa Lopez
Fanny Howa Lopez
PhD Student & Teaching Assistant
Interface between biology and chemistry.
Tiphaine Gallet de Saint Aurin
Tiphaine Gallet de Saint Aurin
PhD Student
I work on population heterogeneity in E. coli, with a focus on recombinant protein production and the associated metabolic burden.
Mélanie Grégoire
Mélanie Grégoire
PhD Student
Specialized in Bacillus subtilis bioengineering, developing biosensor systems for single-cell analysis of protein secretion dynamics.
Constance Keller
Constance Keller
PhD Student
My research focuses on hydrogenases engineering and studying population heterogeneity during their production.
Mikaila Kinore
Mikaila Kinore
PhD Student
My expertise lies in cell culture in plates, cell fermentation, and statistical data analysis.
Fabian Roeloffs
Fabian Roeloffs
PhD Student
My expertise lies in microfluidic single cell cultivation of bacteria and archaea as well as cultivation in a bioreactor.
Hannah Sehrt
Hannah Sehrt
PhD Student
My PhD project focus on continuous plasmid DNA production in E. coli, utilizing scales from bioreactors to microfluidic chambers.
Maximilian Sehrt
Maximilian Sehrt
PhD Student
I use molecular and engineering techniques to study the effects of toxicity on population dynamics with Pseudomonas putida.
Alizée Sloodts
Alizée Sloodts
PhD Student
I study microbial population dynamics in E. coli continuous bioreactors, focusing on phenotypic escape mechanisms to optimise continuous cultures.
Vincent Vandenbroucke
Vincent Vandenbroucke
PhD Student
I make tools to model cell population dynamics in a variable environment, to enable control in continuous bioprocesses.

Technical staff

2
Samuel Telek
Samuel Telek
Technician
Research and development in biotechnology. Expertise in fermentation from laboratory scale to pilot scale.
Andrew Zicler
Andrew Zicler
Technician
Expert in automation and 3D design, I optimize microbiology lab development with innovative and tailored solutions.

Former members

4
Ghazal (Fatemeh) Bajoul KakahiORCID ↗LinkedIn ↗
Mathéo DelvenneORCID ↗LinkedIn ↗
Satoshi IzumotoORCID ↗LinkedIn ↗