About Us
Danny Haelewaters, PhD
FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, group lead, Head of Laboratory of Fungal Ecology and Evolution (2025 onwards)
About
Dr. Danny Haelewaters is Visiting Professor and FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at Ghent University, after a stint as Postdoctoral Associate in Fungal Systematics at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is Co-PI on two grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation focusing on groups of fungi that remain understudied and on a Biodiversa+ grant on which he will involve citizen scientists into fungal biodiversity monitoring. He is interested in taxonomy and conservation, evolutionary biology, and the ecology of trophic interactions.
Education
PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, USA (2018)
MSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (2011)
BSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (2009)
BSc in Veterinary Medicine, University of Antwerp, Belgium (2004)
Published WorkS
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Michiel de Groot
PhD student
About
Michiel de Groot is a PhD student at Ghent University and the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). His research focuses on parasitic fungi on ladybirds. He is interested in evolutionary ecology, entomology, conservation, and scientific communication.
Education
PhD in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (ongoing)
MSc in Evolutionary Biology, Leiden University, The Netherlands (2021)
BSc in Biology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands (2016)
Published WorkS
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Frederik C. De Wint
PhD student
About
Frederik C. De Wint is a PhD student working on entomopathogenic fungi and their impact on host communities. As an entomologist he is specialized in ants and their symbionts. Key aspects in his research involve taxonomy, ecology, and phylogeny, with focus on tropical ecosystems. He is affiliated with the University of South Bohemia (Czechia), and works in collaboration with Ghent University and Universiti Malaysia Sabah. He also acts as Operation Manager in the BINCO ant workgroup – MyrmEcoDex, focusing on ant diversity in the Neotropics and Belgium. Another passion of his is bat bioacoustics.
Education
PhD in Entomology, University of South Bohemia, Czechia (ongoing)
MSc in Biology, University of Antwerp, Belgium (2020)
BSc in Biology, University of Antwerp, Belgium (2017)
PUBLISHED WORKS
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Jie Xie
PhD student
About
Jie Xie is a PhD student at Ghent University, and works in collaboration with the Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Science (Guangzhou, China). She specializes in entomopathogenic fungi. Her doctoral research delves into the intriguing interactions between ectoparasitic fungi and their insect hosts. She is interested in biological control and the molecular mechanisms behind pathogenicity.
Education
PhD in Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium (ongoing)
MSc in Cell Biology, Hunan Normal University, China (2020)
BSc in Biology, Hunan Normal University, China (2017)
PUBLISHED WORKS
Google Scholar
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Libelje Mortier
PhD Student
About
Libelje Mortier is a biologist who recently graduated from Ghent University. She specializes in tropical macrofungi and will begin her doctoral research in January 2025 at the University of South Bohemia (Czechia). She is also affiliated with the Lab of Fungal Ecology and Evolution at the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Her PhD research explores the remarkable diversity of tropical fungi and their relationship with the environment. She is particularly interested in ecosystem dynamics, climate change mitigation, and the protection and restoration of nature.
Education
PhD in Botany, University of South Bohemia and Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia (2025 onwards)
MSc in Biology (Global Change Ecology), Ghent University, Belgium (2024)
BSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (2022)
PUBLISHED WORKS
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Warre Van Caenegem
Research Assistant
About
Warre Van Caenegem is a biologist who recently graduated from Ghent University. He is currently employed as a 0.5 FTE Research Assistant on the iNoLa project funded by Artsdatabanken, to inventorize thallus-forming Laboulbeniomycetes associated with Staphylinoidea in Norway. For his bachelor thesis, he worked on Laboulbeniales associated with tropical American bat flies. For his master thesis, he studied whether the morphological diversity in the genus Laboulbenia was reflected in the molecular diversity. He is interested in mycology, entomology, taxonomy, and biodiversity.
Education
MSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (2023)
BSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (2021)
PUBLISHED WORKS
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Jeffrey Pan
Data Scientist, Researcher, and Website Management
About
Jeffrey Pan is graduate from Northeastern University studying Data Science and Environmental and Sustainability Science. He is passionate about environmental sustainability and its data-related components. He is interested in using data-related tools to uncover novel ecological interactions.
Education
BSc in Data Science and Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Northeastern University, USA (2025)
PUBLISHED WORKS
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Mahika Sharma
Data Specialist and Research Assistant
About
Mahika Sharma is an undergraduate student at Northeastern University studying Computer science with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence. She has previous experience as a research assistant applying data science and analysis to medical imaging and physics simulations, focusing on brain frequencies and head protection in collisions. She is passionate about using technology and data to create impact in healthcare and the environment.
Education
B.S. in Computer Science, Northeastern University, USA (Class of 2027)
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Silas Art
Master student
About
Silas Art is a Master student from Ghent University studying the fungal diversity in tropical areas. For his thesis he focuses on describing new species from Cusuco National Park, in northwestern Honduras. As a side project he studies parasitic fungi (Laboulbeniales) associated with insects collected during fieldwork in Panama. He is very interested in biodiversity in general and more specifically fungal diversity and symbiotic interactions of fungi with other organisms. Further interests are evolution, ecology, and mushroom growing.
Education
MSc in Biology (Evolution and Biodiversity), Ghent University, Belgium (ongoing)
BSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (2022)
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Jonathan Cazabonne
PhD student
About
Jonathan Cazabonne is a PhD student in mycology and old-growth forest ecology at the Forest Research Institute of Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue. His doctoral research focuses on old-growth boreal forests in eastern Canada, where he explores soil fungal diversity, its role in carbon storage, and how to predict it using indirect biodiversity indicators. His expertise spans the knowledge and protection of fungi, from molecules to community levels, as well as the conservation of their habitats and interaction networks. He also has a profound interest in Laboulbeniomycetes, which he studies through the lens of biodiversity shortfalls.
Education
PhD in mycology and ecology of old-growth forests, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Canada (ongoing)
MSc in Ecology and Forest Management, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Canada (2024)
BSc in Biology of Organisms, Populations and Ecosystems, Paul Sabatier University, France (2021)
PUBLISHED WORKS
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Felix Heyman
Master student
About
Felix Heyman is a Master student at Ghent University studying Laboulbeniales on insects. For his bachelor thesis, he described two new species of Laboulbenia on beetles from North Carolina. Currently he is working on his master thesis project, for which he studies co-speciation patterns between Laboulbeniales and their host species. He participated in an Erasmus exchange program at the University of Stockholm, Sweden in Spring 2024. He is interested in entomology, mycology, phylogeny, and taxonomy.
Education
MSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (ongoing)
BSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (2023)
Published works
Daphne Hessmann
Master student
About
Daphne Hessmann is a Master student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel studying parasitic fungi on invasive ladybirds. For her thesis, she will take a closer look at abiotic factors influencing the occurrence of Hesperomyces harmoniae and the transmission from its typical host, the globally invasive Harmonia axyridis, to an atypical host such as Adalia bipunctata, a European-native ladybird. She is interested in mycology, biodiversity, and ecology.
Education
MSc in Ecology and Biodiversity, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium (2024)
BSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (2023)
PUBLISHED WORKS
Hannes Ackaert
Interning student
About
Hannes Ackaert is a bachelor student at the University College Ghent. In his internship at Ghent University he worked together with #TeamLaboul members, curating specimens, screening insects for the presence of ectoparasitic microfungi, and even describing a new species from Mozambique. He is interested in conservation, mycology, climbing, diving, and nature in general. Photography is his passion. This was his first internship where he explored the scientific work field.
Education
Professional Bachelor in Agro- and Biotechnology, University College Ghent (HOGENT), Belgium (ongoing)
Technical Secondary Education in Construction and Woodworking Technology, Steinerschool Gent, Belgium (2023)
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Benjamin Young, PhD
Visting postdoctoral researcher
About
Dr. Benjamin Young works at the University of Colorado Boulder as a bioinformatics postdoctoral researcher in the Quandt Laboratory. He visited Ghent University in January 2024 to extract and sequence genomes of microfungi in the class Laboulbeniomycetes to help resolve their placement in the fungal tree of life.
Education
PhD in Marine Biology and Ecology, University of Miami, Fl, USA (2021)
BSc in Zoology and Geoscience, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (2017)
PUBLISHED WORKS
Brianna Santamaria
Alumnus (2021-2023)
About
Brianna Santamaria recently graduated as a Master of Science from Ghent University. For her master thesis, she explored the influence of abiotic factors on the growth of parasitic fungi on ladybirds. She is interested in mycology, parasitology, community ecology, and scientific communication.
Education
MSc in Biology, Ghent University, Belgium (2023)
BSc in Biology, University of Central Florida, USA (2019)
PUBLISHED WORKS
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Maria Christou, PhD
Visiting postdoctoral researcher (2022)
About
Dr. Maria Christou works at the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, in Cyprus. During May 2022 she visited Ghent University with an ALIENCSI short-term scientific mission. She is interested in invasive alien species and environmental sustainability.
Education
PhD in Fishing and Fisheries Sciences and Management, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (2020)
MSc in Ecology and Environmental Management, University of York, England (2015)
BSc in Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (2014)
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