Eline Menu

Since 2015, I hold a Faculty Position (Research Professor) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), in the lab of Prof. Vanderkerken. I was trained as a biomedical researcher and completed my PhD at the Hematology and Immunology lab (HEIM) at the VUB. After a 1-year post-doctoral stay at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, I returned to the HEIM lab to set-up my own research team. My main research interest is understanding the role of the bone marrow microenvironment in the pathobiology of Multiple Myeloma (MM). My current focus is two-fold: investigating how exosomes play a role in the communication between the MM cells and the BM stromal cells, which leads to the growth of the MM tumor and drug resistance, and understanding how altered tumor metabolism contributes to myeloma progression. Both are major problems in treating MM patients. My team utilizes in-depth cancer biology techniques and has access to the 5TMM models, fully syngeneic in vivo models to investigate MM biology. The goal of my team is to identify novel mechanisms of myeloma development and drug resistance and translate these findings into novel therapeutic targets. Moreover, I am a board member of the Belgian Society of Extracellular Vesicles and Stichting tegen Kanker.