Hello, my name is Alexander Stephany; I am the most recently recruited CONSENSE member — ESR2.
About me
From the age of 6, I have lived south of Brussels — in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. During my years in Belgium, like many teenagers, I was part of a scouting group. At 18, I continued as a leader for children aged between 7-12 for 5 years.
My journey in science
I began my studies at the Université Catholique de Louvain, where I obtained both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. I did my Master’s thesis in the laboratory of Prof. Patrice Soumillion. The scope of this thesis was to purify and characterize the L- and D-transpeptidases from Escherichia coli. This allowed me to acquire experience in molecular biology and biochemistry. This was possible thanks to my mentor who did a great job of sharing his experience and inspired me to continue in research.
After my studies, I worked for a university start-up, studying human nuclear receptors active in cancer development. Thanks to the great team at this company I gained new skills and more experience.
Where I am now
I have just started a new adventure at the TU/e, in the Netherlands, in the protein engineering group of Prof. Maarten Merkx. This challenge is a great opportunity for me to learn about directed evolution, protein engineering, antibodies, and biochemistry in general. All this is possible thanks to the support from the CONSENSE ITN network.
Thanks for reading!
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Author: Alexander Stephany
