Samuel Vanden Abeele

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Samuel Vanden Abeele is an evolutionary biologist who has worked on various organisms such as birds and parasites, with a particular focus on tropical African trees and crop wild relatives. His research is mostly focused on population level evolutionary relationships and the drivers of speciation and diversification.

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Function

Samuel works as a postdoctoral research associate at BopCo, the species identification service of the Institute of Natural Sciences and the AfricaMuseum. In this role, he is responsible for various projects and requests, focused on the identification of species with socio-economic importance such as invasive alien species, pests, disease vectors, and protected (CITES) species. His work includes lab experiments, genetics data analysis, bioinformatics, reporting to stakeholders, website development, and science communication.

Research team: BopCo
Research theme: Evolution and the Web of Life, Biodiversity in a changing world

Current Project(s)

Samuel works on various projects and identification requests at BopCo

Some examples:
MEMO+
INTERCEPT
CITES-listed species
Bird strike requests

Area of Expertise

Samuel has experience with field work in the tropics and extensive expertise in molecular lab work, which includes various DNA extraction protocols, (q)PCR, genomic library preparation for high-throughput sequencing, DNA barcoding, and SSR genotyping. Furthermore, he has experience with WordPress website development and bash/Unix command line, as well as various software packages for phylogenetics, population genetics, and phylogeography. Samuel has a particular interest in studying species delimitation and hybridization processes.

Professional Experience

Samuel obtained his BSc and MSc degree in biology at the KU Leuven, studying hybridization in Tragopan pheasants and population genetics of Schistosoma parasites. He then obtained his PhD degree at the Université libre de Bruxelles, studying the phylogeography of tropical trees in Central Africa, in close collaboration with Meise Botanic Garden. Afterwards, Samuel received an individual BAEF postdoctoral fellowship to do research at Cornell University (USA), where he applied target capture sequencing and genome skimming to study the evolution of the monodominant tree species Gilbertiodendron dewevrei and it’s relatives in the Congo Basin. Subsequently, he obtained an individual FWA postdoctoral fellowship to continue his research at Cambridge University (UK).

External activities

Samuel is an Honorary Research Associate at Meise Botanic Garden

Dissemination activities

 BopCo's YouTube channel 

Publication highlights

Vanden Abeele, S., Matvijev, K., Hardy, O.J., Assumani, D.-M., Angoboy Ilondea, B., Beeckman, H., Bouka, G.U.D., Boupoya, C.A., Deklerck, V., Flot, J.-F., Gillet, J.-F., Kamdem, N.G., Lisingo, J., Monthe, F., Sonké, B., Janssens, S.B., 2023. Genetic breaks caused by ancient forest fragmentation: phylogeography of Staudtia kamerunensis (Myristicaceae) reveals distinct clusters in the Congo Basin. Tree Genetics & Genomes 19, 27.

Mertens, A., Bawin, Y., Vanden Abeele, S., Kallow, S., Swennen, R., Vu, D.T., Vu, T.D., Minh, H.T., Panis, B., Vandelook, F., Janssens, S.B., 2022. Phylogeography and conservation gaps of Musa balbisiana Colla genetic diversity revealed by microsatellite markers. Genetic Resources & Crop Evolution 69, 2515–2534.

Vanden Abeele, S., Janssens, S.B., Anio, J.A., Bawin, Y., Depecker, J., Kambale, B., Mwanga, I.M., Ebele, T., Ntore, S., Stoffelen, P.,Vandelook, F., 2021. Genetic diversity of wild and cultivated Coffea canephora in northeastern DR Congo and the implications for conservation. American Journal of Botany.

Vanden Abeele, S., Hardy, O.J., Beeckman, H., Ilondea, B.A., Janssens, S.B., 2019. Genetic markers for species conservation and timber tracking: development of microsatellite primers for the tropical African tree species Prioria balsamifera and Prioria oxyphylla. Forests 10, 1037.