Honorary Full Professor in the department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute, Faculty of Medicine of KU Leuven
He was Board member of the Rega Institute and headed the laboratory of Molecular Bacteriology, where he conducted research on protein secretion focused both on fundamental and biomedical/biotechnological aspects. He was chairman (1991-1996) of the FNRS/NFWO-sponsored contact group “General Microbiology”, predecessor of the Belgian Society for Microbiology (BSM), established under his stimulus in 1996, and of which he became the first Secretary (1996-2009), and subsequently President (2009–2016). He also introduced BSM in the European Federation of Microbiological Societies (FEMS), represented BSM as delegate (1997-2014) until he was elected officer in the FEMS Board of Directors (2015-2021), responsible for Grants and Awards.