MR SEBASTIAN VAN HELLEMONDT

Biography

Harnessing next-generation diagnostic technologies for eDNA-based biosurveillance, wildlife forensics and conservation biology

The overarching goal of my PhD research is to reinvent how eDNA analysis is undertaken in an environmental context. I aim to explore emerging technologies and develop several diagnostic assays that can be used in conservation biology, bio surveillance for invasive non-native species and wildlife forensics.

During my PhD I hope to collaborate with molecular ecologists, medical and veterinary scientists, environmental managers and practitioners, and commercial biotechnology partners to develop eDNA diagnostic platforms that will be:

1. Easier to use,
2. More portable & cost-effective,
3. Can generate robust and reproducible results in real time that are simple to interpret,

… and help deliver real applied impact!

Current Research

Harnessing next-generation diagnostic technologies for eDNA-based biosurveillance, wildlife forensics and conservation biology

The overarching goal of my PhD research is to reinvent how eDNA analysis is undertaken in an environmental context. I aim to explore emerging technologies and develop several diagnostic assays that can be used in conservation biology, bio surveillance for invasive non-native species and wildlife forensics.

During my PhD I hope to collaborate with molecular ecologists, medical and veterinary scientists, environmental managers and practitioners, and commercial biotechnology partners to develop eDNA diagnostic platforms that will be:

1. Easier to use,
2. More portable & cost-effective,
3. Can generate robust and reproducible results in real time that are simple to interpret,

… and help deliver real applied impact!

Past Research

MSc Wildlife Conservation, University of Chester, 2020 - 2022
"Population Genetics of the endangered White-Faced Darter (Leucorrina dubia) in Scotland"

• Molecular laboratory work included DNA extraction of insect tissue and STR amplification. Population structure and gene flow were assessed to help expand conservation efforts for the species

MSc DNA Profiling, University of Central Lancashire, 2019 - 2020
"Developing an in silico STR multiplex for Forensically Important Blowfly Species"

• By utilising several different coding programs, novel STRs from publicly available genomic blowfly data were identified and assessed for multiplex applications.

BSc Biology and Medical Laboratory Research With a Major in Forensic Science, Avans University, The Netherlands 2015 - 2019
Dissertation topics:

• Identifying nemat-helminths in faecal matter of Canidae species by means of qPCR, Selective Whole Genome Amplification (SWGA) and Next Generation Sequencing

• qPCR High Resolution Melt (HRM) analysis of SNP variants in mitochondrial and nuclear Oncocerca volvulus DNA; Parasitology, population genetics, DNA isolation methods.