Prof. Jelle Matthijnssens graduated as Bio-engineer at the KU Leuven in 2003, and was appointed as Assistant Professor at the Rega Institute at KU Leuven with a BOF-ZAP tenure position in October 2015. As of October 2020, he was appointed as associate Professor. His PhD and postdoc research focused on the genetic diversity and evolution of rotaviruses and other viruses causing infections of the human gastrointestinal track. More recently, a method was optimized in his lab to purify virus particles from complex biological samples (NetoVIR protocol), which in combination with Illumina NGS technology is used to study the viral component of various microbiota. Jelle Matthijnssens has the following additional professional appointments: a) editorial board member of Microbiology Resource Announcements, b) Chairman, Study group Reoviridae, ICTV, c) Chairman of the Rotavirus Classification Working Group (RCWG).