Prof. Nele Famaey, Ph.D
Coordinator - Soft Tissue Principal InvestigatorNele Famaey obtained the MSc and PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering at KU Leuven, in 2006 and 2012, respectively. Since 2018, she is a BOFZAP research professor and group leader of the soft tissue biomechanics research group (STB). She also holds a visiting professorship at the University of Ghent, in the BioMMeda research group.
Prof. Lennart Scheys, Ph.D
Joint Principal InvestigatorLennart Scheys obtained his MSc degree in Electrical Engineering at KU Leuven in 2004. He is assistant professor at the Department of Development and Regeneration, Faculty of Medicine, head of the Locomotor and Neurological Disorders cluster and the founder and director of the Institute for Orthopaedic Research and Training (IORT).
Prof. Harry van Lenthe, Ph.D
Bone Principal InvestigatorHarry van Lenthe is a Full Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He obtained the MSc in Mechanical Engineering (1994) at the University of Twente, Enschede. After receiving a PhD (2001) in Medicine (Orthopedic Biomechanics) from Radboud University, Nijmegen, he worked for two years as a postdoc at TU Eindhoven and for five years at ETH Zurich. He is the former President of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB). A major focus of his work is directed towards improving the diagnosis and treatment of bone and joint diseases.
Heleen Fehervary, Ph.D
Research ManagerHeleen Fehervary obtained the MSc in Biomedical Engineering and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at KU Leuven, in 2013 and 2018, respectively. Between 2019 and 2022, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Nele Famaey with an FWO junior postdoctoral fellowship on ‘in vitro, in vivo and in silico evaluation of soft tissue prostheses’. Since 2022 she is working full time as a research manager for FIBEr.
Maria Teresa Francomano, Ph.D
Business DevelopmentMaria Teresa holds a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering (2009) and a PhD in Bioengineering (2013), both from Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome. In 2015, she further complemented her expertise with a master's in business administration from Politecnico di Milano. Following postdoctoral research in MicroTechnologies and microsystems for robotics, Maria Teresa co-founded a startup on robotic neuro-rehabilitation. She has primarily worked as managing director and international business developer in the MedTech field, with a special focus on robotics, IT technologies and medical services. She has been working as a business developer at FIBEr since 2024.
Kimberly Crevits
Lab ManagerKimberly Crevits obtained her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Laboratory Technology, specialization Pharmaceutical and Biological Technology (Forensic Research) from the Erasmus Hogeschool Brussel in 2015. Since October 2019, she is a full-time lab manager for FIBEr.
Thomas Louwagie, MSc
Project EngineerThomas obtained his MSc degree in Industrial electromechanical engineering at KU Leuven, in 2019. During his master thesis, he designed and tested the prototypes for an innovative and state of the art lubrication system ‘Grizit’ which provided the foundation for a revolutionary new market-ready product. Since 2019, Thomas works at the Institute for Institute for Orthopaedic Research and Training (IORT) as a design engineer, where he mainly designed and built a new and advanced dynamic knee-joint simulator. In April 2021, he joined FIBEr where he works as a project engineer (at 80% FTE) while continuing his work at IORT for one day a week.
Orçun Taylan, MSc
Project EngineerOrçun Taylan holds a bachelor diploma in Mechanical Engineering at Suleyman Demirel University, 2009, an MSc in Biomechanics at Dokuz Eylul University, 2012 and has completed pre-doctoral education in Biomedical Engineering, Biomechanics section at KU Leuven 2017. He is part of FIBEr and working at the Institute for Orthopaedic Research and Training (IORT), UZ Leuven, as a research engineer and lab manager.
Johan Philips, Ph.D
IT ExpertJohan Philips obtained his M.Sc. in Computer Science (2005), M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence (2006) and PhD in Mechanical Engineering (2012), all at KU Leuven. He is part of FIBEr and at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, he set up IT infrastructure to support researchers with software and data management and is already servicing more than 10 research groups.
Ing. Stefan Goovaerts
Technical SupportStefan Goovaerts obtained his degree in Industrial Engineering (Electricity - Electronics). He is employed at KU Leuven since 1989. For 20 years now, he is the technical support engineer for the Biomechanics Section, where he dedicates approximately half of his time to supporting the development and execution of experiments within FIBEr.
