Partners and Resources

Franck Denat, PhD, Prof.

Head of the Institute of Molecular Chemistry at the University of Burgundy. He is interested in fluorophores, radiometal complexes, bioconjugation strategies, for the development of new multimodal imaging (optical and nuclear imaging) and theranostic agents.

Christine Goze, PhD, Assistant Professor

She is interested in the development of BODIPYs based fluorophores for molecular imaging applications, and development of bimodal probes (for optical and nuclear imaging).

Anthony Romieu, PhD, Prof.

His current research interests mainly focus on the development of advanced chemical tools for biosensing and bioimaging applications based on fluorescence modality

Hassan Al Sabea, PhD

He finished his thesis in 2020. His topic was dealing with the redox and photo-modulation of lanthanide-based luminescence, as well as the synthesis of molecular wires. His current research is mainly focusing on the design of NIR emitting dyes for biological applications.

Elisa Chazeau, MSc

After receiving her double degree in chemistry and biotechnology from the University of Strasbourg in 2021, she started a PhD at the Institute of Molecular Chemistry at the University of Burgundy. Her research is focused on developing fluorophores for optical imaging application as well as theranostics and to work on bioconjugation strategies

Emmet Mc Cormack, PhD, Prof.

His research focus is the development and effective translation of novel therapies and imaging strategies for the treatment of cancer, particularly cancers with limited therapeutic options.

Katrin Kleinmanns, PhD

Background in biomedicine, completed her PhD at the end of 2019 which focused on the development of clinically relevant preclinical animal models for evaluation of image-guided surgery and immunotherapy.

Vibeke Fosse, MS CACS (Oncology) 

Veterinary surgeon, specialist in companion animal oncology.  
She has been working on the development of targeted fluorescence image-guided surgery, with a focus on clinically relevant animal models for translation.

Frauke Alves, PhD, Prof. MD

Head of the interdisciplinary “Translational Molecular Imaging” group, a research group located at the UMG Goettingen and the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences. As a physician in Internal Medicine, oncology, she focuses on the development, optimization and preclinical evaluation of novel, e.g., nanoparticulate theranostics, by means of multimodal and multiscale imaging.

Christian Dullin, PhD

Heads the group “X-ray based preclinical imaging technologies”. He teaches image processing and machine learning at the University Goettingen and has more than 20 years experience in platform independent software development using C++, Matlab and Python. He is experienced in 3D data analysis, registration, rendering and visualization.

Andrea Markus, PhD 

Senior researcher; she has expertise in diverse imaging technologies, in particular optical in vivo imaging and high resolution microscopy, which she uses for the evaluation and optimization of novel theranostic approaches in oncology and other diseases; tracking of tumor/immune cells, and cell-stroma interactions; expertise in animal models.

Stefan Lesemann, PhD 

As a medical research assistant, he was able to get a wide knowledge in the biological, chemical and medical fields. Over 7 years he specialized and got experience in 3D data analysis, visualization, registration and rendering. He is interested in the use and development of new technologies.

Catarina S. Lobo, PhD 

Catarina completed her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2021. Her research interests are focused in photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy and imaging modalities (fluorescence, photoacoustic and nuclear imaging).

Giannis Zacharakis, PhD

Principal Researcher and Head of the Laboratory for Biophotonics and Molecular Imaging. Physicist by training, his main fields of interest are Biophotonics, and Biomedical Imaging focusing on developing novel tools and enabling technologies for imaging biological processes in living systems.

Emmanouil Vergis, PhD

Ηe has expertise in applied micro and macro econometric analysis in the fields of renewable energy, labor market and entrepreneurship. His current interests are on innovation valuation and in the field of policy valuation. He has an experience in statistical analysis, econometric modeling and machine learning methodologies, lime survey and statistical programs such as R cran, Stata and E-views.

Mylonakis Mikis, Phd

Physicist with a PhD titled Wavefront Shaping for Microscopic Imaging of Biological Samples and MSc in Materials Science & Technology. His main fields of interest are optical design, bioimaging, mechanical design, and wavefront shaping.

Zacharopoulos Athanasios, Phd

Researcher at FORTH. Physicist with a master’s degree in Photonics/Nanoelectronics and a PhD in non-linear Microscopy. His current research focus is on the development of algorithms for scientific data analysis and light-matter interaction simulations with the use of Python.

Charampos Astrinakis, Bsc

Physicist with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Crete, with a thesis on “Optoacoustic interferometric characterization system (OPTICS) for the evaluation of fuel quality through speed of sound measurements.” His main fields of interest include applied physics, modern acoustic characterization techniques, and photonics. During his internship at FORTH, he mastered the use of photoacoustic spectrometry for fuel quality assessment.

Manousaridou Eythymia, Bsc

She is a Project Manager with a foundation in physics. At I.T.E Forth her focus is on optimizing project performance and resource management. Her expertise extends to innovative HR practices and digital transformation, supported by a background in physics and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Crete.

Evangelos Marakis, MSc

He is passionate about translating cutting-edge research into impactful commercial products. His expertise spans Photonics and Nanolithography, 3D Laser Writing, UV Lithography, and the application of photonics in secure authentication. With a strong focus on delivering substantial added value, he is dedicated to leveraging advanced technologies to drive innovation and create meaningful solutions.

Maarten Kuijk, PhD, Prof. Ir.

Full-time professor in Electrical Engineering at the ETRO dept. of the VUB. His research topics include electrical and optical interconnects devices & building blocks, optoelectronic devices & sensors, CMOS analog and digital circuits. He filed more than 40 international patent families and (co)founded multiple spin-offs while at the VUB. He is the coordinator of this project.

Hans Ingelberts, PhD, Ir.

He received his PhD for his work into Current Assisted Photonic Sampler (CAPS) image sensors for fluorescence lifetime imaging in 2017. His focus since is to build a team that turns the CAPS pixel into a nanosecond time-domain camera and to develop time domain fluorescence imaging systems and applications. He is the deputy coordinator in this project.

Rik van Heijningen, MBA

His background is Biochemistry but he spend most of his career in several management functions in biotech- and medical device companies. From 2019 his focus turned again towards fluorescence tracer development and lifetime imaging. He is the manager of this project

Sevada Sahakian, MSc, Ir.

Sevada Sahakian graduated in 2021 with a Master of Science in Photonics Engineering from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He then obtained a second Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2022. In the same, he started a PhD at the ETRO-LAMI research group of the VUB. His research is focused on the development of a real-time fluorescence lifetime imaging system.

Théo Lepoutte, MSc, Ir.

After receiving his Bachelor of Engineering from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in 2020 and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Brussels Facutly of Engineering (BRUFACE) in 2022, Théo started a PhD at the ETRO-LAMI research group of the VUB. His research is focused on developing a high-speed readout chain for CMOS image sensors optimised for fluorescence lifetime imaging.

Sophie Hernot, PhD, Prof.

As Tenure Track Professor since 2020, her research interests focus towards fluorescence molecular imaging in surgical and interventional applications. In this context, near-infrared fluorescently-labeled Nanobodies are designed and preclinically validated as tools for image-guided surgery, with the aim of translating them to the clinic.

Łukasz Mateusiak, MS

Ph.D. candidate in Medical Sciences at the Laboratory for Molecular Imaging and Therapy at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium, where his primary research revolves around the use of nanobody-based tracers for fluorescence-guided surgery.