Denis Mottet

Denis completed his master thesis in Biological Sciences and obtained his PhD degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Namur (Namur, Belgium) in 2004. His PhD research project was dedicated to the molecular mechanisms regulating HIF-1 transcription factor activity during hypoxia. 

For his postdoctoral training, he first joined Vincent Castronovo’s lab at the University of Liege (Liege, Belgium) and then moved to Dr Eric Verdin’s lab at the Gladstone Institute-UCSF (San Francisco, USA). During this period (2005-2009), he studied HDAC epigenetic regulators in physio-pathological contexts such as cancer and maturation of immune cells.

In 2009 He was promoted to FNRS research associate and moved back to Belgium, where he still worked on HDAC enzymes.

He started his independent lab at the GIGA Research Institute in 2014 and decided to focus on a more downstream step in the regulation of gene expression, the life of RNA.

His lab is currently invested in studying role of RBPs in RNA metabolism such as splicing, transport and translation.

In 2023 he was promoted to FNRS senior research associate. He was also promoted to tenure-track Associate Professor at the University of Liege in 2025.

Outside of science, he enjoys cooking, travelling, cinema, sport (soccer fan) and spending time with his friends and family.