Prof. Steven Ballet completed his PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) in 2007, after which he undertook an initial postdoctoral stay in Australia at the University of Adelaide. There, he used sophisticated chemical techniques to synthesize structurally rigid peptide scaffolds, molecules that show promise in inhibiting biological targets. During his second postdoctoral position at the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal (Montreal, Canada), he conducted research on opioid peptides, designing molecules that interact with opioid receptors and other neural targets. Since 2010, Prof. Ballet has served as head of the research group of Organic Chemistry within the departments of chemistry and bioengineering sciences of the VUB. His main area of research focuses on the chemistry of peptide and peptide mimetic compounds and their applications in medicinal chemistry and biomaterial development.