# Jo Vandesompele
**Jo Vandesompele** is a senior full professor in Biomolecular Medicine at Ghent University, where he has held a professorship since 2007, and he leads the OncoRNALab research group at the Center for Medical Genetics of Ghent University Hospital.[1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416) • [2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6274-0184) He is also a company founder, became Chief Scientific Officer of the Ghent University spin-off pxlence and co-founded the Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG).[1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416)
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Position | Senior full professor, Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, since 1 October 2007[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6274-0184) |
| Training | Master of Science in Bioscience Engineering (1997); PhD in Medical Sciences, Ghent University (1997–2002), advisors Anne De Paepe and Frank Speleman[1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416) • [3](http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-522099) |
| Signature work | geNorm normalization method, *Genome Biology*, 2002[4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/12184808) |
| Guidelines work | Co-author of the MIQE guidelines (Clinical Chemistry, 2009) and MIQE 2.0 (2025)[5](https://www.gene-quantification.net/miqe-bustin-et-al-clin-chem-2009.pdf) • [6](https://www.gene-quantification.com/bustin-et-al-miqe-2.0-clinical-chemistry-2025.pdf) |
| Companies | Co-founder and CSO of pxlence (from 2015); co-founder of InActiv Blue |[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6274-0184) • [1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416)
| Institute building | Co-founder of CRIG; chairman of its first steering committee, 2016–2019[1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416) |
## Career and training
Vandesompele trained as an engineer before entering medical genetics. He obtained a [Master of Science](https://www.edgepedia.org/master-of-science) in Bioscience Engineering in 1997.[1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416) His doctoral research ran from 1 October 1997 to 22 May 2002 at Ghent University, for a PhD in Medical Sciences.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6274-0184) The thesis, *Delineation of the heterogeneous pattern of genomic changes and identification of differentially expressed genes in neuroblastoma*, was supervised by Prof. Anne De Paepe and Prof. Frank Speleman and carried out at the Center for Medical Genetics, Ghent University Hospital.[3](http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-522099)
According to the Cancer Research Institute Ghent, since 1 October 2007 he has been senior full professor in Biomolecular Medicine at Ghent University, with a professorship in Functional Cancer Genomics and Applied Bioinformatics, and he is principal investigator of OncoRNALab at the Center for Medical Genetics.[1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416)
## qPCR normalization and the MIQE guidelines
In the 2002 geNorm paper in *Genome Biology*, his group evaluated ten housekeeping genes of different abundances and functional classes across human tissues and showed that normalizing against a single gene produces relatively large errors in a significant proportion of samples.[4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/12184808) The proposed remedy was to determine the most stable reference genes from a panel of candidates and to compute the normalization factor as the geometric mean of several of them, validated against publicly available microarray data.[4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/12184808) • [7](https://genorm.cmgg.be/)
The method spread widely. The [Microsoft Excel](https://www.edgepedia.org/microsoft-excel) implementation of geNorm was downloaded more than 15,000 times between 2002 and 2010, after which an improved geNorm module was integrated in the qbase+ software of Biogazelle, a company he co-founded, between 2010 and 2023.[7](https://genorm.cmgg.be/)
In 2009 he co-authored the MIQE guidelines (Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments) in *Clinical Chemistry*. MIQE specifies the minimum information needed to evaluate a qPCR experiment and includes a checklist to accompany manuscript submission, aimed at reliability, consistency between laboratories, and experimental transparency.[5](https://www.gene-quantification.net/miqe-bustin-et-al-clin-chem-2009.pdf)
## Representative work
The geNorm paper, "Accurate normalization of real-time quantitative RT-PCR data by geometric averaging of multiple internal control genes", *Genome Biology*, 18 June 2002 ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2002-3-7-research0034)), established that single-reference-gene normalization is unreliable and validated the geometric mean of multiple carefully selected housekeeping genes as an accurate normalization factor.[4](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/12184808)
## Non-coding RNA and liquid biopsy research
OncoRNALab studies the role of long non-coding RNA and circular RNA in cancer, extracellular nucleic acids in liquid biopsies, and the spatial analysis of nucleic acids in tumor tissue.[1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416) Recent outputs include PeakPrime, a peak-guided primer design pipeline for target enrichment in 3′-end RNA sequencing, and recommendations on blood collection tubes and RNA purification methods for extracellular RNA transcriptome profiling.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6274-0184)
## CRIG and industry roles
Vandesompele co-founded the Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG) and chaired its first steering committee from 2016 to 2019.[1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416)
He has co-founded three companies. In February 2015 he became co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of pxlence, a Ghent University spin-off that develops and manufactures PCR assays and kits for targeted resequencing and digital PCR quantification.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6274-0184) • [8](https://www.pxlence.com/about.php) pxlence reports having designed nearly one million PCR assays for targeted resequencing of fresh-frozen or FFPE tissue covering 99% of the human exome, with more than 10,000 assays for 500 disease genes tested in [ISO 15189](https://www.edgepedia.org/iso-15189) diagnostic laboratories; the related primerXL design pipeline is described in the literature as having produced almost one million assays covering over 98% of the human exome, with 2,294 assays validated in silico and in the wet lab.[8](https://www.pxlence.com/about.php) • [9](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27077044/) The company released a 50-SNP Human Sample ID Kit in 2020 and a 13-SNP version in 2022, and developed Rainbow DNA detection technology, which uses universal probes for digital PCR and qPCR.[8](https://www.pxlence.com/about.php) He is also co-founder and became Chief Scientific Officer of InActiv Blue.[1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416)
## Recent developments
Three developments mark the period after 2023. First, the MIQE guidelines were revised: MIQE 2.0, published in *Clinical Chemistry* in 2025 with him as a co-author, recommends that quantification cycle values be converted into efficiency-corrected target quantities reported with prediction intervals, detection limits, and dynamic ranges, and clarifies normalization, quality control, and reporting requirements.[6](https://www.gene-quantification.com/bustin-et-al-miqe-2.0-clinical-chemistry-2025.pdf) • [2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6274-0184) Second, his Biogazelle role ended in February 2024, leaving pxlence and InActiv Blue as his current industry affiliations.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6274-0184) • [1](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416)
## References
1. [prof. Jo Vandesompele (PhD) | Cancer Research Institute Ghent](https://www.crig.ugent.be/en/node/416)
2. [Jo Vandesompele (0000-0001-6274-0184) - ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6274-0184)
3. [Delineation of the heterogeneous pattern of genomic changes and identification of differentially expressed genes in neuroblastoma (PhD thesis, Ghent University)](http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-522099)
4. [Accurate normalization of real-time quantitative RT-PCR data by geometric averaging of multiple internal control genes - Europe PMC](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/12184808)
5. [The MIQE Guidelines: Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments (Clinical Chemistry 2009)](https://www.gene-quantification.net/miqe-bustin-et-al-clin-chem-2009.pdf)
6. [MIQE 2.0: Revision of the Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments Guidelines (Clinical Chemistry 2025)](https://www.gene-quantification.com/bustin-et-al-miqe-2.0-clinical-chemistry-2025.pdf)
7. [geNorm normalization of real-time PCR expression data](https://genorm.cmgg.be/)
8. [About, pxlence](https://www.pxlence.com/about.php)
9. [Targeted resequencing and variant validation using primerXL - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27077044/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in molecular and cell biology › RNA biology › Small RNAs and RNA interference*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license