Our team

Jana Jeschke, PhD

Group Leader

Jana Jeschke studied Molecular Medicine at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany (2003-2008), and performed her PhD research at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA (2008-2013), in the groups of Prof. Nita Ahuja and Prof. Jim Herman and in collaboration with Prof. Baylin. During this time, she identified and functionally characterized aberrantly DNA methylated genes in breast cancer and assessed them as novel biomarkers.

In 2013, Jana moved to Belgium to start a postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Cancer Epigenetics at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Brussels. Under the supervision of her lead mentor. Prof. Fuks and the breast cancer expert Prof. Sotiriou, she explored changes of various epigenetic modifications on DNA and RNA in breast and other cancers and the clinical relevance of these aberrations for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Her most notable works include the development of an epigenetic immune signature that predicts survival and response to chemotherapy in breast cancer (JCI 2017) and the discovery of m6A mRNA methylation changes in breast cancer and their impact on pathways driving cancer progression and therapy resistance (Nature Cancer 2021). Jana was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) in 2014.

In 2022, Jana obtained the mandate of Chercheuse Qualifiée (Associate Professor) from the FNRS to start her own research group at ULB focusing on applied cancer epigenomics and epitranscriptomics. Her group is establishing new and cutting-edge technologies (e.g. Nanopore sequencing) for the mapping of DNA and RNA modifications in tumor biopsies as well as developing innovative bioinformatics tools for the analysis of epigenome/epitranscriptome maps. For her ground breaking research, Jana was awarded an ERC Starting Grant in 2023.

Siqi Zheng

Postdoctoral Researcher

Siqi obtained her Master's degree in Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Peking University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Groningen, in 2024. In her doctoral dissertation, she investigated chromosomal instability and potential therapeutic targets in cancer.

In the same year, she joined the Applied Cancer Epigenomics and Epitranscriptomics research group led by Dr. Jana Jeschke as a postdoc. Her work mainly focuses on epigenetic and epitranscriptomic alterations in cancer treatment. She aims to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying drug resistance in cancer and develop novel therapeutic approaches.

Outside the office, Siqi is interested in running and reading books.

Zian Liu

Postdoctoral Researcher

Zian obtained his Bachelors in biochemistry from Purdue University and his PhD in computational biology from Baylor College of Medicine, and had a brief stint at Northwestern University before moving to Belgium in 2025. His prior work focused on using innovative statistical modeling to solve biological data science questions, ranging anywhere from statistical genomics to LLM use in medicine.

Zian has since developed an interest in positions with a stronger emphasis on data analysis and research support, and has thus joined the Applied Cancer Epigenomics and Epitranscriptomics research group led by Dr. Jana Jeschke as a bioinformatics postdoc. Zian’s current role involves performing and coordinating bioinformatics analyses and developing computational resources for m6A analyses.

Outside the office, Zian leads a bifurcated life between either going on solo backpacking trips or tinkering with computer systems at home. Fun facts about Zian include being fluent in Japanese, being surprisingly good at some arcade games, and running various things on a VPS rented from Hetzner.

Dídac Jiménez Sánchez

PhD Student

Dídac studied biosystems engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia where he developed an interest in genetics and programming. He carried out his bachelor's thesis at the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics, about melon QTL's and CRISPR/Cas9. After that, he decided that he wanted to have a career in research and studied a master's degree in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics at the Open University of Catalonia, where he carried out a master's thesis on the benchmarking of single-cell RNA sequencing preprocessing. With the master finished, he started a PhD at the ACEE lab with the goal to study the role of epitranscriptomics in tumor-associated neutrophils in lung cancer.

Outside the office, he is passionate about swing dancing, bouldering and reading, among other things.

Brendan Beahan

PhD Student

After working as an English Teacher in Tokyo and then as a data analyst for an online food-ordering software company, Brendan decided to pursue his Master in Bioinformatics at KU Leuven. During the master he worked on many different bioinformatics projects, including a CNN for classifying amyloid-beta plaques in Alzheimer's patients and a master's thesis investigating the molecular dynamics of phage-induced lysine acetylations. Brendan’s chief aim is to work on challenging scientific problems with direct applications to human health, which is in large part why he was excited to begin his work within the Jeschke Lab investigating the application of nanopore technology to better understand m6A dysregulation in breast cancer.

When not working at the lab, Brendan enjoys jogging (especially at park cinquantenaire!), weightlifting and watching films.

Raphaël Van de Vijver

Lab technician

Raphaël earned his bachelor degree in Biomedical research at the Avans university of applied sciences. For his thesis, he pursued his interest in next generation sequencing by comparing Oxford nanopore and Illumina sequencing of the gut microbiome.

Here at the ACEE group, he will support the students in the lab with their research projects and manage the lab.

Outside of the lab, Raphaël enjoys playing rugby.

Peilin Ouyang

PhD student

Peilin is a gynecologic oncologist with experience in clinical cohort studies. She is focused on improving treatment strategies by translating research findings into clinical practice. During her master's studies, she conducted a retrospective analysis on neoadjuvant therapy for cervical adenocarcinoma. In her clinical work, she developed a predictive model to evaluate the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in pregnant individuals with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Currently, she is pursuing doctoral studies, expanding her research skills in tumor epigenetics to deepen her understanding of cancer biology.

In her free time, Peilin enjoys hiking, watching movies, and exploring new recipes.

Licheng Li

PhD student

Licheng graduated in July 2023 from the Clinical Medical College of Guizhou Medical University with a Master’s degree in Hematology. Before completing his Master’s, he gained seven years of experience as a clinical physician specializing in hematologic oncology. His Master’s research focused on understanding the mechanisms of transcription factors and their regulatory networks in malignant hematologic diseases.

In October 2024, Licheng joined the ACEE lab as a Ph.D. candidate under the guidance of Dr. Jana Jeschke. His research aims to explore the roles and mechanisms of m6A modifications in breast cancer and other cancers, with a goal of uncovering novel insights into cancer progression and treatment.

Outside the lab, Licheng enjoys traveling and music.

Henry del Marmol

PhD student

After studying ecology, animal behavior, neuroscience, and molecular biology during his Bachelor’s degree at the Maastricht Science Programme, Henry joined the Cancer, Stem Cells and Developmental Biology Master’s program at Utrecht University. While working part-time as a front-end developer at a startup, his growing interest in informatics led him to pursue a Bioinformatics Profile, during which he joined the Jeschke lab as an intern to develop a bioinformatics pipeline for the analysis of m6A using Nanopore sequencing technology. Following his graduation, Henry was eager to rejoin the lab as a PhD student, further pursuing his interest in addressing scientific questions with strong potential for clinical applications.

Outside the lab, Henry enjoys playing music, drawing, spending time with friends, and engaging in sports.