Jelle HENDRIX

JH dedicates about 50% of his time coordinating  academic research in the Dynamic Bioimaging Lab, housed in one of UHasselt’s research institutes, the Biomedical Research Institute (BIOMED). The group has a multidisciplinary background: biophysics, biology, biochemistry, physical chemistry, biotechnology, biomedical sciences, nanotechnology allowing us to tackle pressing questions in the life sciences in multi-pronged ways. For most of his active research projects, he collaborates with other PI’s at BIOMED’s Neuroscience Department or at UHasselt’s Material Science Institute. One particular recently funded research project worth mentioning is called MultiScale. It is a collaborative effort of 6 UHasselt research groups around a new light-sheet microscope platform for large-sample tomographic imaging. Having BIOMED’s most international research team, JH represents BIOMED in UHasselt’s Internationalization Board to increase the international allure of our alma mater. Finally, he is a member of two relevant FWO International Scientific Research Networks: “Collective Optofluidic Dynamics” and “Protein folding/non-folding and dynamics”.

About 20% of his time JH spends on educational duties as Associate Professor in (mainly) the Biomedical Sciences program of UHasselt’s Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences. In this program he is “the face of imaging”, from educating 1^st Bachelor students about the wonders and workings of simple light microscopes, to Master level courses on NMR, EM, advanced fluorescence and clinical imaging. He is also Faculty board member, Exam committee member, Mediator Bachelor Medicine, and coordinates the Bachelor Research Internship (70-90 students per year).

Another 30% of his time JH spends on strategic tasks. First of all, JH founded in 2017 UHasselt’s first core facility, the Advanced Optical Microscopy Centre, which he strategically managed together with a colleague, and which provides training and help to academic researchers, but also frequently is engaged in full-service contract research to companies. Most recently, and because of his passion for technology, he was elected as member of BIOMED’s directory board as “the face of research infrastructure”, a function in which JH  coordinates actions to better manage infrastructure at our institute using his experiences in core facility management and infrastructure grant management. He is also in the strategic board of Flanders BioImaging, a pan-Flanders consortium of 9 core facilites that recently is part of the Eurobioimaging European infrastructure consortium on microscopy, where we think about the future of optical microscopy management in Flanders (QCM, RDM, throughput, service, dissemination,…). Finally he is in the board of the Royal Belgian Society for Microscopy, an active member  of the global FRET community, is vice-president of the Belgian Biophysical Society, and secretary of the Biological Fluorescence subgroup of the American Biophysical Society. 

Timeline of past and current positions

• 2003 – 2005: Master of Science in Biochemistry (magna cum laude), Chemistry Dept., Division for Biochemistry, Structural and Molecular Biology, KULeuven
• 2005 – 2010: PhD in Science (Biochemistry), KULeuveN. Advisors: Prof. Yves Engelborghs, Prof. Zeger Debyser. PhD Scholarship IWT (success rate ~20%).
• 2009 – 2010: Three independent awards for best poster presentation at conferences.
• 2010 – 2013: Postdoctoral Scholarship FWO (15% success rate).
• 2011 – 2013: Visiting Scientist (full-time), Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Chemistry, Dept. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München, Germany. Fellowship for a long stay abroad (FWO) and Fellowship of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD)
• 2014 – 2016: Lecturer (5%), Faculty of Science, Chemistry Department, UHasselt.
• 2016 – 2021: Assistant Professor Bioimaging, Faculty for Medicine and Life Sciences (GLW), Neuroscience Department, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University.
• 2021 – now: Associate Professor Bioimaging, UHasselt
• 2020:  Young Fluorescence Investigator Award for ‘Significant advancements in fluorescence methodologies’, awarded by the Biological Fluorescence subgroup at the 64^th American Biophysical Society Meeting in San Diego, USA.