Fiona Maria Pancken
Research assistant REIM
Technical staff
Biography
Fiona Maria Pancken graduated in the Master of Science in Biology: Molecular & Cellular Life Sciences at the VUB in June 2023. During her master's thesis at REIM, she explored the impact of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptor signaling on human embryo preimplantation development. To investigate gene expression, cytoskeletal dynamics and polarization, human embryos were treated with LPA, a bioactive lipid that has been shown to stimulate TE formation in murine and bovine embryos, and TE homologue formation in human blastoids. In October 2023, she started as a scientific assistant at the VUB under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Hilde Van De Velde. In collaboration with Dawn-Bio (CSO: Alok Javali), she focuses on identifying novel regulators of embryonic development, with the aim to discover missing components of embryo culture medium for IVF. She applied for the FWO on the 1st of March 2024. In October 2025 she aims to start her PhD under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Hilde Van De Velde. Her project will focus on regulators of human primitive endoderm formation.
Location
Laarbeeklaan 103
Building K+1
1090 Jette
Belgium