Dr. E. (Els) Wessels, PhD

I obtained a Ph.D. in molecular virology in 2006 (Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands) and after a post-doc at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany, I started a training to become a Medical Molecular Microbiologist (MMM) at the LUMC. In 2010 I completed this training and as a MMM at the LUMC I am responsible for implementation, maintenance and innovation of the molecular diagnostics of infectious diseases.

I have a lot of expertise in quality management, e.g. ISO 15189 and IVDR, and I am the staff member responsible for the quality management system of the clinical microbiology laboratory and I coordinate the laboratory for molecular diagnostics and serology. I am the MMM trainer at the LUMC, technical assessor for the Dutch Accreditation Council (RvA), member of the Commissie Kwaliteit (quality commission) of the Dutch Society of Medical Microbiology (NVMM) and also a member of the national MMM concilium.

Together with my two Medical Molecular Microbiologist (MMM) colleagues Eric Claas and Stefan Boers, I have generated a large portfolio of molecular diagnostic assays including real-time PCR, subtyping and resistance testing in all fields of microbiology. We have also implemented next generation sequencing as a routine diagnostic tool and focus on laboratory automation.

My research focuses on validation of novel molecular assays for infectious diseases.