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
  1. Cools T, Wilson KS, Vancsok C, Mulot B, Leclerc A, Haapakoski M, Kok J, Duncan CW, Girling S, Zhou Y, Li R, Li D, Vanhaecke L, Wauters J (2026): Estrus monitoring in giant pandas revisited: The importance of assay selection. ANIM REPROD SCI 292 (2026), 108275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anireprosci.2026.108275.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.