Robert moves from the Department of Chemistry at the KU Leuven, where he worked in Johan Hofkens’ group on the development and application of single-molecule and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. In Leuven, Robert held a translational fellowship sponsored by the Flemish research organization, IWT, and a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (2008-2010). Prior to his time in Leuven, Robert held an EPSRC post-doctoral fellowship at the life-sciences interface at the University of Edinburgh and spent a year of this fellowship with Nobel Laureate, Sir Rich Roberts, at New England Biolabs, MA (2005-2008).
Robert’s background is in photophysics and spectroscopy, but his research now sits firmly between the physical and life sciences. Whilst in Leuven, Robert worked on the application of the DNA methyltransferase enzymes to fluorescently modify DNA. This work led to a new DNA mapping technology, which combines super-resolution imaging with enzymatic DNA labelling. The focus of Robert’s current research is on the study and development of chemo-enzymatic approaches for labelling, capturing and manipulating DNA. This work will underpin the development of novel DNA-based diagnostics and therapeutics in the future.
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