Joep is a PhD student at the Amsterdam UMC. He completed a BSc degree in Natural and Social Sciences at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), specialising in patient-oriented biomedical research. After this, Joep proceeded with a MSc degree in Biomedical Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) with specialisations in infectious diseases and immunology. Joep worked as a research technician at OrganoVIR Labs for two years, before embarking on his PhD-journey. His PhD project, as part of the Friend-or-Foe project, focuses on employing modular complexity in in vitro intestinal models to study picornavirus infections in the intestine and across the gut-brain axis, to screen for potential antiviral compounds, and investigate microbiome-virus interactions. By establishing complex intestinal and gut-brain axis models, Joep hopes to help get more insight in the infectious behaviour of these viruses in vivo.