Simon Van Herck

Simon Van Herck earned his MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences from KU Leuven, Belgium. His passion for cancer therapy led him to pursue a PhD under the supervision of Prof. De Geest at Ghent University, where he focused on designing interactive polymer delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy. In 2020, he joined the lab of Prof. Li Tang at EPFL, Switzerland, as a postdoctoral researcher, working on chemically tuning cytokine activity profiles. Following this, an FWO postdoctoral fellowship brought him back to Ghent University. Seeking new challenges, Simon joined Prof. Yadong Wang’s lab at Cornell University, NY, USA, in 2022, where he applied his expertise in polymer chemistry and immunology to the development of vascular grafts.

In late 2024, Simon began his tenure-track position at the MERLN Institute, where he is establishing a research group dedicated to creating a new generation of synthetic materials that modulate the complex interplay between metabolism and immunology.