New position at the Babraham Institute

I am pleased to annouce that in 2019 I will be taking up a new position as Senior Group Leader at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge. I have been at the VIB and University of Leuven for nearly 10 years, and it is time for a new chapter.

In 2009, me and James Dooley set up the Translational Immunology laboratory in Leuven. We walked into an empty room. No chair, no tables, no staff, no equiptment. I was 28 years old, barely out of a post-doc and completely unprepared for what was to come. Over the next 10 years we turned the laboratory into a thriving hub for immunology research in Leuven. We now run three research teams, headed by James Dooley, Susan Schlenner and Stephanie Humblet-Baron, and we set up and run two Core Facilities, for flow cytometry and genome engineering. My lab currently hosts 25 researchers and has trained another 100 immunologists over the years, who now have positions across Belgium and the world. We have brought more than €10 million into the university in research grants, including the prestigious ERC Start and ERC Consolidator awards. We have published more than 120 research papers over the past 10 years, including major studies in Nature Immunology, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics and Science Translational Immunology. We have worked closely with the clinic here in Leuven, discovery new diseases and creating new therapeutic strategies for children with rare immune diseases. 

These successes are due to the work of the amazing scientists in the lab, in particular James, Susan, Stephanie and Pier-Andree. But we could not have had this success without institutional support. The VIB recruited me with the incredibly successful independent researcher program, which provided a high level of core funding and complete intellectual independence. The VIB also provided an environment rich in new technologies and a highly international culture of excellence. In particular I want to thank Jo Bury for starting the independent researcher program, and Bart De Strooper and Patrik Verstreken for creating a VIB department where the values of intellectual independence thrive. 

Patrik Verstreken, Director of VIB Center for Brain & Disease: "Adrian’s work has been nothing short of stellar, but what I appreciated the most is that he pushed us to think outside the box, that he brought amazing new technology to KU Leuven and VIB and that he drove the development of both the FACS core and Mutamouse.  Adrian has also always been a fierce advocate of equal opportunities for all, and for a more equal gender balance in research; I am sure he’ll continue this in the future.  Adiran is a role model for everybody in our center and he shows how hard work, inspiration and clever use of the many possibilities in our environment can propel you to the next stage in your career." 

We were jointly hosted by the University of Leuven. Here we were incredibly lucky to enter the university in an era where university management was actively seeking to remake this ancient institution into a modern, international hub of research excellence. In particular, Peter Marynen and Wim Robberecht in Biomedical Sciences, and Marc Van Ranst, in the department of immunology, never failed to turn a crisis into an opportunity. Each of these leaders was able to see both the barriers that faced foreign group leaders and also the opportunities that they presented, and under their tenure the university and department made enormous progress. Without their support I would never have been able to build up two core facilities, opening up new research tools to the entire community. I sincerely hope that the next generation of leadership continues this outwards facing ethos. 

Marc Van Ranst, Director of the KUL Department of Microbiology and Immunology: "Adrian is a top immunologist and a very appreciated member of our department and our departmental board. He is a smart innovator and scientific leader, and an all-round good guy. He is the driving force behind several core facilities such as Mutamouse and the FACS core. He will join the prestigious Babraham Institute at Cambridge where he will be a Group Leader in their Lymphocyte Signalling & Development cluster. Adrian will be the KU Leuven ambassador in Cambridge, and will remain involved in the activities of the Laboratory of Adaptive Immunity here in Leuven, exchanging students between Cambridge and our department. We wish him all possible success in this new phase in his career!"

The Translational Immunology laboratory in Leuven will not be closing down. Susan Schlenner is going to replace me as head of the laboratory, which will be renamed the Laboratory of Adaptive Immunity, and the laboratory will keep up two research teams (molecular Tregs, under Susan Schlenner, and clinical immunology, under Stephanie Humblet-Baron) and will continue to run both the FACS Core and MutaMouse. The tissue and disease team led by James Dooley will move with me to Cambridge, where our new adventure begins. This time, however, rather than landing in an empty room we will be embedded into the outstanding research environment of the Babraham Institute! A small team is coming with us, Oliver Burton and Carly Whyte, but new recruits are needed!

Comments

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