Dr. Tom Cools

Scientist

Department of Reproduction Biology

Tel: 0049 (0) 30 5168 - 682

Short curriculum vitae

Tom Cools is a staff scientist in wildlife metabolomics, focusing on the use of mass spectrometry for (non-)invasive endocrine monitoring in wildlife species. He mainly works with targeted and untargeted steroidomics and (semi-)polar metabolomics methods to investigate the reproductive biology and phenotypic plasticity of various wildlife species.

2025 – Present: Staff scientist in the Department of Reproduction Biology, Leibniz-IZW
2020 – 2026: PhD in Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium

Projects

Wildlife metabolomics: establishment and further expansion of the MS-based wildlife monitoring platform
Physiological plasticity: male spatial tactics in cheetahs
Iberian lynx reproductive physiology: markers for implantation/early pregnancy diagnosis and reproductive senescence
Iberian lynx: unraveling the underlying mechanisms or triggers of cub sibling aggression

Research interests

Wildlife metabolomics
Reproductive physiology
Physiological plasticity
Non-invasive endocrine monitoring

Selected publications

. Cools T, Wilson KS, Li D, Vancsok C, Mulot B, Leclerc A, Kok J, Haapakoski M, Bertelsen MF, Ochs A, et al. Development and validation of a versatile non-invasive urinary steroidomics method for wildlife biomonitoring. Talanta. 2024; 273: 125924. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2024.125924
Cools T, Wilson KS, Li D, Vancsok C, Mulot B, Leclerc A, Kok J, Haapakoski M, Bertelsen MF, Sicks F, et al. Non-invasive giant panda pregnancy and pseudopregnancy biomonitoring by integrated metabolomics and steroidomics. Scientific Reports. 2025; 15(1): 35187. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-19067-7
Wauters J, Wilson KS, Cools T, Vancsok C, Bouts T, Mulot B, Leclerc A, Haapakoski M, Kok J, Kühne R, et al. Pregnancy length and health in giant pandas: What can metabolic and urinary endocrine markers unveil? Theriogenology Wild. 2023; 3: 100063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.therwi.2023.100063