Lina De Smet

Dr. Lina De Smet (female) obtained a PhD in biochemistry in 2000. In 2010 she switched to bee research and joined the laboratory of Prof. de Graaf (L-MEB). At first, she was responsible for the development of different diagnostic tools in the EU-funded 7th Framework Program BEEDOC project. She introduced the Multiplex Ligationdependent Probe Amplification technology in bee virus diagnostics. A colorimetric DNA chip was also developed enabling to determine the expression level of the most
important bee health markers. Dr. De Smet gave guidance to several PhD students, including some coming from African countries with an Erasmus-Mundus scholarship. Together with Dr. Felicien Amakpe (Benin) she performed a morphometric and genetic (COI-COII sequencing) analyses of the native West African honey bees resulting in new insights in the relationship between mitotypes and ecotypes. It was demonstrated that each of the different mitotypes was able to adapt to the different ecological conditions by morphometric adjustments. At present she is involved in studies that will pave the way for Marker Assisted Selection. One such study combined good beekeeping practices (queen rearing, artificial insemination, phenotyping) with novel state-of-the-art and unprecedented whole exome sequencing and elastic net regression analyses and allowed her to discover the genetic variants associated with the suppressed Varroa reproduction-phenotype.