Speaker

Jan Claesen

Assistant Professor
Lerner Research Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA

Jan Claesen is an Assistant Staff faculty member at the Lerner Research Institute at Cleveland Clinic and an Assistant Professor of Molecular Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Our group was established in November 2017 and we aim to characterize the role of bioactive microbial and dietary small molecules in microbiota-associated diseases. We use a combination of genetic and biochemical techniques, as well as preclinical models to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that drive community dynamics and microbe-host interactions, and engineer commensal bacteria for fundamental and translational applications in the gut and skin microbiome.

Jan obtained a B.S. and M.S. in Biological Engineering, specializing in Cell and Gene Biotechnology, from KU Leuven, Belgium. Next, Jan joined the lab of Prof. Mervyn Bibb and he received his Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology in 2011 from the John Innes Centre and University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom, where he studied the genetics and biosynthesis of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide antibiotics produced by Streptomyces bacteria. After his graduate studies, Jan was a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Dr. Michael Fischbach in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, USA. There, his work focused on the identification of novel biosynthetic pathways and characterization of bacterial metabolites that mediate microbiota interactions in healthy human gut and skin.