 He graduated from the University of Ghent (Ghent, Belgium) and received an MSc degree form the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada).He obtained a PhD at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Medical Research Council, (Cambridge, United Kingdom).As an academic, he held faculty positions at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Medical Research Council (MRC-LMB) in Cambridge and the Medical Faculty of the University of Ghent.