Nanobodies in Health : Next generation Antibody fragments for Medical Applications (GOA65)

Naturally occurring camelid Heavy-chain antibodies have evolved to be fully functional in the absence of a light chain. In a previous VUB-funded GOA project, a network consisting of the research groups of S. Muyldermans, J. Steyaert and P. De Baetselier has built on fundamental research into the properties of Heavy-chain antibodies to develop medical applications of Heavy chain antibody-derived single-domain antibody fragments referred to as Nanobodies. Collaborative scientific achievements of this network include proof-of-principle experiments into the use of Nanobodies for antibody-directed enzyme prodrug therapy of cancer, for therapeutic targeting of trypanocidal proteins to conserved moieties on the variable surface glycoprotein coat of African trypanosomes and against amyloidogenic proteins. In addition, the expertise combined in the network has allowed to attract additional peripheral funding and to extend the network by allowing the generation of additional collaborative networks.
By further integrating and stabilizing the collective expertise in the groups of S. Muyldermans, P. De Baetselier, J. Steyaert and S. Magez, and setting up research that is complementary to - but different from - peripherally funded research programmes the current project aims at consolidating the development of Nanobodies as next generation therapeutic along four major lines of research:
1) Identification and engineering of Nanobodies
2) Applications of Nanobodies in protein structure and conformation
3) Applications of Nanobodies in targeting of African trypanosomes
4) Applications of Nanobodies for tracking inflammatory responses

Keywords:Applied Biology

Disciplines:Biological sciences