PhD students

Sam obtained his degree of Medical Doctor (MD) in 2017 at the University of Antwerp, after which he started his advanced master of specialized medicine in laboratory medicine, with a focus on clinical microbiology. During his traineeship, he worked in various microbiology laboratories in Antwerp and started his PhD on the molecular background of antimicrobial resistance at the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology after graduating in 2022. Additional to this research, Sam also works for the Hospital Outbreak Support Team (HOST) for the ZNA-GZA hospital network, the 3th largest hospital network in Europe.

Office: S.625

E-mail: Sam.VanGoethem@uantwerpen.be ​

Tel.: +32 3 265 93 25

​List of Publications​

Enya obtained a Bachelor degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Antwerp and graduated as a Master in Biomedical Sciences – Environmental and health sciences in 2022. Her passion for microbial genetics was fueled by her Master thesis about Whole genome sequencing of extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli, which led her to apply for a PhD position at LMM. 

When she is not at LMM, you can usually find her on a tennis court, hiking through nature or bickering with her two sisters.

Office: S.625

E-mail: enya.arconadanuin@uantwerpen.be  

Tel.: +32 3 265 93 25

​List of Publications​

Lara graduated with a Master of Biomedical Sciences: Infectious and Tropical Diseases from the University of Antwerp in 2022. Following her master's thesis at LMM, she is continuing her work in the field of infectious agents as a PhD student, investigating the pathogenesis of invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) strains, which are a major cause of bloodstream infections in children and immunocompromised patients. In addition, she is also responsible as a teaching assistant for the practicals and the administrative organisation within the infectious disease courses of the Bachelor of Medicine and the Master of Infectious and Tropical Diseases.

Office: S.625

E-mail: lara.dierckx@uantwerpen.be  

Tel.: +32 3 265 93 25

Anouk graduated with a Master of Biomedical Sciences: Infectious and Tropical Diseases from the University of Antwerp in 2023. She did her master thesis at LMM on the prevalence and spread of colistin heteroresistance among Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated from various ICUs in Europe which further sparked her interest for the field of microbiology and antibiotic resistance. She currently works at LMM as a PhD student investigating linezolid and vancomycin resistance in enterococci, in collaboration with the Antwerp University Hospital and Sciensano. More specifically, her work focuses on unravelling the potential reasons behind the low prevalence of linezolid and vancomycin resistant enterococci (LVRE).

Office: S.625

E-mail: anouk.braspenning@uantwerpen.be  

Tel.: +32 3 265 93 25

​List of Publications​

Ine graduated with a Master in Biomedical Sciences, specializing in clinical research, from the University of Antwerp in 2024. After completing her master thesis at LMM, she continued as a PhD student to further her research on Salmonella Typhimurium and its evolutionary adaptation toward invasiveness. Her work focuses on understanding the role of horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of invasive Salmonella strains in sub-Saharan Africa to gain insights into bacterial pathogenicity.

Office: S.625

E-mail: ine.hoeben@uantwerpen.be 

​Purity obtained her Master of Science in Medical Microbiology from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in 2024. Before joining the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology as a PhD student, she worked at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) on antimicrobial resistance and enteric disease surveillance. Her current research focuses on characterizing O-antigen structural variation in invasive Salmonella isolates from Africa to better understand serovar diversity and predict vaccine coverage.

Office: S.625

E-mail: Purity.Kasiano@uantwerpen.be​

​Iana holds a Master of Science in Medical Microbiology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK completed on December 1, 2022. She worked as a research assistant at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Cambridge, UK before joining LMM. Her research projects focused on ciprofloxacin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae and the genomic characterisation of E. coli community carriage in sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso and DR Congo). Iana started her PhD at the LMM on 10 August 2026 under the supervision of Prof. Sandra Van Puyvelde, on the project "A genomics perspective of E. coli disease in sub-Saharan Africa".

Office: S.625

E-mail: Iana.Amke@student.uantwerpen.be

Jozefien obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Namur and graduated with a Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences: Infectious and Tropical Diseases from the University of Antwerp in 2026.

​During her master’s thesis at the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology (LMM), she investigated the bacterial communities present in household kitchen sinks in Antwerp as part of the citizen science project POEMBAKterie.

She currently works at LMM as a PhD student, investigating the prevalence, diversity, and distribution of Escherichia coli and antimicrobial resistance across environmental and clinical compartments in an urban environment.

Office: S.625

E-mail: jozefien.mellebeek@uantwerpen.be​

Timothy graduated with a Master of Science in Biochemistry from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in 2024. Before joining the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology as a PhD student, he worked at the KEMRI-WELLCOME TRUST, Kilifi, on understanding nasopharyngeal microbiome composition and its clinical correlates in severe paediatric pneumonia. His PhD research at LMM focuses on understanding the reservoirs, transmission dynamics, and evolution of antimicrobial resistome in neonatal units in sub-Saharan Africa. This work is a collaboration with The Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) and KEMRI-WELLCOME TRUST, Kilifi.

E-mail: timothy.makori@student.uantwerpen.be and tmakori@kemri-wellcome.org

James graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana with aBachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and a Master of Philosophy in Clinical Microbiology in 2019 and 2023, respectively. James is a research fellow with the Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research Group at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), Ghana and has joined the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology as a PhD student. His research focuses on investigating the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in neonatal sepsis in African hospitals and exploring the role of supra-hospital reservoirs using a One Health approach.

E-mail: james.deke@student.uantwerpen.be and j.deke@kccr.de​