Rate My Professor Kim De Keersmaecker

Kim De Keersmaecker is a Full Professor in the Department of Oncology at KU Leuven, Faculty of Medicine, and Head of the Laboratory for Disease Mechanisms in Cancer since 2014. She obtained her Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from KU Leuven in 2010 with summa cum laude distinction and her PhD in Medical Sciences from the Center for Human Genetics at KU Leuven-VIB in 2013, focusing on ABL1 fusions in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia under the supervision of Jan Cools. Following her PhD, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute for Cancer Genetics at Columbia University from 2008 to 2010, investigating the role of the oncogenic transcription factor TLX1 in T-ALL with Adolfo Ferrando, and returned to KU Leuven-VIB from 2010 to 2013, where she performed exome sequencing on T-ALL patients, identifying somatic mutations in ribosomal proteins RPL5 and RPL10. Her career progression includes Assistant Professor from 2014 to 2020, Associate Professor from 2020 to 2023, and promotion to Full Professor in 2023, all in the Department of Oncology at KU Leuven. She previously held an Assistant Professor position in Oncobiology at the Center for Human Genetics, KU Leuven from 2013 to 2014.

De Keersmaecker’s research centers on disease mechanisms in cancer, with a specialization in somatic ribosome defects, translational dysregulation, serine and glycine metabolism, and non-coding mutations, particularly in T-cell malignancies. She has secured major awards and fellowships, including the ERC Starting Grant in 2014 for studying ribosome defects in cancer, the ERC Consolidator Grant in 2019 for silent mutations in cancer, the Astra Zeneca Foundation Award in 2022, the Simonart Foundation Prize in 2020 for repurposing sertraline to target serine/glycine synthesis-addicted cancer, and the Dokter Roland De Ruyck Prize in 2019. Notable publications include 'Exome sequencing identifies mutations in CNOT3 and ribosomal genes RPL5 and RPL10 in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia' (Nature Genetics, 2013), 'The TLX1 oncogene drives aneuploidy in T cell transformation' (Nature Medicine, 2010), 'Translatome analysis reveals altered serine and glycine metabolism in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells' (Nature Communications, 2019), and 'Hallmarks of ribosomopathies' (Nucleic Acids Research, 2020). Her contributions have illuminated ribosomal mutations as oncogenic drivers and potential therapeutic targets, influencing cancer biology. She serves as Board member of the KU Leuven Faculty of Medicine since 2021, Board member of the Department of Oncology since 2016, and Coordinator of the KU Leuven Doctoral School Cancer programme since 2013.