Tom VAN DE WIELE obtained his MSc degree in Bioscience Engineering from Ghent University in 2000 and a PhD degree in Applied Biological Sciences with Willy Verstraete - Ghent University - and Steven Siciliano - University of Saskatchewan - as supervisors. He got a postdoctoral fellowship from the FWO Flemish Science Foundation and started research work at LabMET (Laboratory Microbial Ecology and Technology) on host-microbe interactions with particular focus on microbial metabolic potency towards a.o. alimentary pollutants and plant bioactives. He was a visiting scientist at Ohio State University and worked together with dr. Nick Basta (OSU), dr. Jack Creed (EPA) and dr. Karen Bradham (EPA). In 2010, he became assistant professor at Ghent University where he started the Host-Microbe Interaction Technology research unit. Since 2015, he is tenured as associate professor at the Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology from the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University.
The core expertise of his research group is the creation and application of enabling in vitro technologies that mimic the host-microbe interphase with particular focus on mucosal microenvironments. Model systems such as M-SHIME (a mucosa containing dynamic gut model) can be used to generate mechanistic insight in host-microbe interactions and complement in vivo observations.  This is particularly important to increase our understanding of how the microbiome can modulate host health, either through production of specific metabolites, establishing colonization resistance against pathogens, modulating immunity, triggering local inflammation etc…. Such dynamic human gut models allow the screening of a wide variety of candidate drugs, functional foods and/or feeds before a more narrow selection enters the stage of in vivo trials. The research of Tom Van de Wiele has resulted in a scientific output of more than 230 peer-reviewed international publications and the participation as invited and keynote speaker in many international conferences.