We are proud to announce that our colleague Anouk Braspenning has been awarded a PhD Fellowship for fundamental research by the Flemish Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO). This highly competitive grant underscores Anouk’s scientific excellence, as she was selected as one of the laureates from a pool of 1,389 applicants.

Anouk’s research project, titled “Delving deeper into the resistance against linezolid and vancomycin in enterococci: mutual exclusiveness or a severe threat?”, addresses one of the most pressing challenges in global health: antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Specifically, her work focuses on vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and the emerging threat of linezolid-resistant VRE (LVRE), a combination that could severely limit treatment options for infections such as urinary tract and bloodstream infections.

Her project integrates cutting-edge genomic analysis with wet-lab phenotypic assessments, using a One Health approach to investigate the dynamics of resistance across human and animal populations. This includes whole genome sequencing, phylogenetic analysis, and laboratory evolution experiments to understand how resistance develops and spreads.

This fellowship not only highlights Anouk’s individual merit but also reinforces existing LMM collaborations as Anouk will work with data collected by the Belgian National Reference Centre (NRC) for enterococci, which is led by Professor Matheeussen at the University Hospital Antwerp (UZA) who is affiliated with LMM. Additionally, the project will strengthen ties with Sciensano, Belgium’s public health institute, through the secondary use of animal isolates. These samples, along with their associated sequencing data and metadata collected by Sciensano, will be instrumental in advancing the research objectives.

We congratulate Anouk on her outstanding achievement and look forward to the groundbreaking insights her research will bring to the field of medical microbiology.