Dr. Ir. Barbara Dewaele obtained her PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the Center for Human Genetics of the KU Leuven in 2010 after which she became staff member for molecular diagnostics of solid tumours at the University Hospitals of Leuven. In 2015 she was appointed Head of the Laboratory for Genetics of Acquired Hematological Malignancies at the Center of Human Genetics in Leuven. Barbara Dewaele has extensive experience in diagnostic and experimental genetic analysis of hematological malignancies. Her research currently focuses on the implementation of novel technologies into routine genetic practice, with a particular interest to increase diagnostic power for hematological malignancies. She is a member of several (inter)national workgroeps of (cyto)geneticist where optical genome mapping (OGM) is currently a hot topic. UZ/KU Leuven was the first Belgian center to acquire a Saphyr instrument and the Laboratory for Genetics of Acquired Hematological Malignancies is part of the international consortium that guides the introduction of OGM into the field of clinical genetic testing.