CURRENT MEMBERS
Scientific Minds
TOKAMEH MAHMOUDI
Group Leader
Tokameh was born in Tehran, Iran. She attended UC Berkeley where she completed her Balechor’s degree followed by her Master’s studies at the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada and obtained her PhD in Molecular Medicine from Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMS), The Netherlands. As a trained biochemist she applied her expertise during her post-doctoral studies at UCSF at the Gladstone Institute of Immunology and Virology in the lab of Dr. Eric Verdin and later in stem cell based technologies in the lab of Dr. Hans Clevers at the Hubrecht Institute in The Netherlands. Now she is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. In her free time, she likes to travel, paint and read.
ROBERT-JAN PALSTRA
Senior scientist
Robert-Jan obtained his BSc in 1995 from the Hogeschool Rotterdam. After several years of research abroad (Switzerland, Ethiopia and The United Kingdom) he moved to the lab of Prof. Frank Grosveld (ErasmusMC) to obtain his PhD which resulted in the first studies that demonstrated that cis-regulatory elements communicate with genes via chromatin loop formation. Current research interests include the fundamental mechanisms of enhancer action, the role of non-coding DNA variation in long-range gene activation and molecular control of reactivation of the HIV provirus. When he's not in the lab he likes to spend my time rock-climbing or kayaking.
SHRINGAR RAO
Senior post-doctoral researcher
Shringar Rao completed a B.Sc in Microbiology and Biochemistry at St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai, India and then received a scholarship at the University of Nottingham, UK for an M.Sc in Molecular Medical Microbiology. Her PhD research brought her to McGill University, Canada where she conducted her research on HIV-1 and RNA-binding proteins. Her current post-doctoral research investigates innovative approaches to treat HIV and HBV. Aside from science, she spends her time reading classic literature, travelling and fighting the patriarchy.
LEILA BEIKMOHAMMADI
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Leila was born in Tehran, Iran and completed her PhD in Molecular Medicine at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences ,Tehran,Iran(2019) . She joined the lab as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in 2019 to work on liver and bladder organoid platforms. She is interested in research on different extracellular matrixes in Organoid Culture. Apart from research , she loves to paint & read entrepreneurship books.
CYNTHIA LUNGU
Post-doctoral Researcher
Cynthia Lungu, born in Zambia raised in Botswana, is a translational scientist in the department of Biochemistry at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. She obtained a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Zambia and completed a MSc in Infection and Immunity from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands (2016). Her doctoral studies at Erasmus University Medical Center involved the development, validation, and implementation of several quantitative and qualitative technologies to study the HIV reservoir in pre-clinical ex-vivo or clinical in vivo latency reversal efficacy studies. Her ongoing research investigates the impact of virological failure or (analytical) treatment interruption on virus and host factors to inform the design of future HIV therapeutics. She is affiliated with the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia to establish HIV persistence research there. Critical to this endeavor, she is developing more scalable and cost-effective, clinically relevant viral reservoir assays that are amenable for use in High HIV-burdened, resource-limited settings, which will facilitate more studies geared towards generating locally relevant scientific knowledge.
TSUN WAI KAN
Lab manager
Tsun Wai was born in Zwolle, Netherlands. He completed his degree in Biology and Medical Laboratory Research in 2006 in The Netherlands, and joined the lab in 2014.
RAQUEL CRESPO
PhD Candidate
Raquel obtained a BSc in Microbiology at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in 2017. Her interests in immunology and infectious diseases led her to Rotterdam where she completed a MSc in Erasmus University. During her master, Raquel performed a long intership in Dr. Mahmoudi’s lab, where she studied HIV-1 latency and reactivation-based therapies. This led her to obtain a PhD position after completion of her master, where she continues to study the molecular mechanisms behind HIV-1 latency. Outside of the lab, she enjoys sci-fi books, cooking shows and beach days.
MATHIJS SCHOLTES
PhD Candidate
Mathijs was born in Gouda, Netherlands (hence the cheesy humor). He is an MD and PhD candidate investigating chemotherapy response in muscle-invasive bladder cancer using patient-derived organoids and descriptive genomics.
TANVIR (TONMOY) HOSSAIN
PhD Candidate
Tonmoy was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh and MSc in Infection & Immunity from Erasmus University Rotterdam. He joined the lab in 2019 as an masters intern and currently, doing his PhD. He is interested in research related to chronic viral infection (HBV and HIV) and using patient derive organoids platform for viral infection study.
KATIE HENSLEY
PhD candidate
Katie is an MD and PhD candidate and have officially been a part of the Biochemistry lab since February 2021. My main focus is working on finding a cure for HIV! I was born in Belgium to Dutch and British parents and moved to the Netherlands for my medical degree. In my free time I can be found reading a sci-fi/fantasy book or dancing ballroom and latin.
XINGYU FAN
PhD candidate
Xingyu was born and raised in Anhui, China. She obtained her B.Sc. in Medical Laboratory Science in 2019 and M.Sc. in Clinical Diagnostics in 2022 from Anhui Medical University, China. She joined the lab in 2022 as a PhD candidate to study molecular mechanisms of HBV infection on liver organoid platforms.
CHENGCHENG LI
PhD candidate
Chengcheng was born in Heilongjiang, China and completed her postgraduate degree in Surgery at The second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing China (2022). During her master, Chengcheng got the opportunity to do internship in Cell Biology Laboratory. After the internship she found herself more into scientific research, thereby she joined the lab as a PhD candidate in 2022.
LISET DE VRIES
PhD Candidate
Liset is a PhD candidate born in Bolivia, raised in the Netherlands and Spain. She obtained her BSc. Biomedicine and MSc. Infection and Immunity at Utrecht University. She performed a public health internship in the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society (Johannesburg) and an internship about adaptive immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in the Karolinska Institute (Sweden). Her continued interest in HIV biology combined with an interest in fundamental research led to her starting a PhD in the Mahmoudi lab in 2022, studying mechanisms of HIV-1 latency and latency reversal. When she is not in the lab, Liset enjoys dancing salsa or playing the guitar.
SHAHLA ROMAL
Research Technician
As our experienced Research Technician, Shahla is a fundamental part of what makes Mahmoudi Lab such a successful Science Lab. She is truly an invaluable member of our hardworking team.
ALICJA GORSKA
Research Technician
Alicja was born in Poland and obtained the title of Master and engineer in Biotechnology at the University of Agricultures Hugona Kołłątaja in Kraków, where she also finished her postgraduate studies in Dietetics at the Kraków School of Health Promotion. In her laboratory adventure, she worked at the Polish Academy of Science in the field of dendrology in the United Kingdom. Now happy to be part of this high-profile Biochemistry laboratory at the ErasmusMC, as well as working as a EHEG research technician.
She is interested in good crime and comedy (written or filmed), travel, sports and nutrition.