Marcha Verheijen was born on March 25th 1987 in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. At Leeuwenborgh Sittard, she studied ‘Chemical Laboratory Techniques’ from 2003 till 2007. During this time she did four internships at Quality Control departments of different chemical companies. Thereafter, she continued her education with a bachelor study ‘Biology and Medical Laboratory Research’ at Hogeschool Zuyd Heerlen (2007-2010). Here, she interned at Hogeschool Zuyd researching ‘absorption and anti-inflammatory effects of flavonoids’ and at PathoFinder where she focused on the development of the GastroFinder using multiplex PCR technology. Finally, she went on to a master study ‘Biomedical Sciences’ at Maastricht University with the specialization ‘Clinical Molecular Sciences’ (2011-2013). In the second year of her master, she did two internships. First, at Maastricht University department toxicology focusing on ‘transgenerational effects of paternal benzo[a]pyrene exposure and activation of retrotransposable elements’. Second, researching ‘Mitochondrial dysfunction and genetics in Renal Cell Carcinoma ‘at Maastricht University department clinical genomics.
On the 14th of April 2014 she started working as a PhD-student in the area toxicogenomics on the project entitled: HeCaToS.