Sare Verstockt, PhD

Post-doctoral researcher

Sare Verstockt completed her Master in Biomedical Sciences at KU Leuven in 2015. She opted for the Minor Research, Communication and Management, to learn about the broader picture of scientific research including healthcare economics, marketing and management. Further sparked by her interest in translational research, she started her PhD at the Department of Human Genetics, during which she focused on the early molecular events in the pathogenesis of IBD. After her PhD, the complexity of IBD and many unmet medical needs such as prevention of post-operative recurrence, motivated her to tackle IBD from new angles. She therefore started a postdoctoral position in the Leuven IBD group, and obtained a junior postdoctoral fellowship from The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). She is currently investigating the molecular fingerprints inside and outside the intestinal wall, to identify early triggers of postoperative recurrence in Crohn’s disease. In addition, she is coordinator of a Belgian, multicentric biobank of newly diagnosed patients: the Prognostic biobANk of paTients witH Early cRohn's or colitis (PANTHER) cohort. She received recognition for her work both at national (ie. Belgian IBD patient association [CCV], Belgian IBD Research and Development (BIRD) group) and international level (ie. the European Crohn’s and Colitis organization).