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Organisation

Laboratory of cell biology and histology

Research Group

Lifecycle:1 Oct 2003 →  Today
Organisation profile:The Laboratory of Cell Biology and Histology (CBH) is an interfaculty research group, uniting scientists from the Faculty of Biomedical, Pharmaceutical and Veterinary sciences and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Their joint mission is to elucidate the cell biological principles of human physiology and disease, so as to expose new entry points for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Core research lines strongly align with key research domains at the University of Antwerp, such as Neurobiology, Oncology, Imaging and Infectious diseases. The research is fueled by solid expertise in cell, tissue and systems biology and finds a common denominator in the use and development of advanced microscopy technology. In line with the latter, CBH also operates as the Antwerp Centre for Advanced Microscopy (ACAM), providing high-end microscopy service tailored towards both ultrastructure and live cell-imaging applications. As microscopy hub, CBH is a founding member of EGAMI, the University valorisation platform for Imaging. Our core topics are: GUT PHYSIOLOGY AND DYSFUNCTION •Neuro-immune interactions in the gastrointestinal system •AAV-mediated targeting of the enteric nervous system •Effects of amyloid proteins on the enteric nervous system •The ageing epithelial gut barrier •The microbiome-gut-brainaxis (Techniques: animal models –in vitro models –histology –live cell imaging –proteomics –electrophysiology –molecular biology –viral transfection/transduction) EXPERIMENTAL LUNG RESEARCH: PHYSIOLOGY AND INJURY •Pulmonary neuroepithelialbodies (NEBs): quest for physiological stimuli •NEB microenvironment as an airway epithelial stem cell niche •Acute lung injury modulators (Techniques: functional morphology –animal models –ex vivo lung slice models – functional live cell imaging –laser microdissection–transcriptomics–pharmacology) IMMUNOLOGICAL DRUG TARGETING AND BIOMARKER DISCOVERY OF DIFFERENT PNEUMONIAS •Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) •Stroke-related pneumonia •Cystic fibrosis-related pneumonia •Pneumonia associated with ageing •Pneumonia associated with microbiome alterations (Techniques: animal models –in vitro models –clinical studies –histopathology –transcriptomics –proteomics –metabolomics –metagenomics –biomarker discovery) NEURODEGENERATION •Modulators of neuronal network connectivity •Whole brain staging of neurodegeneration •Development and characterization of models for tauopathies •Toxic protein clearance pathways (Techniques: animal models –primary cell culture –deep coverage microscopy –whole brain imaging –molecular biology –data mining) ACCELERATED AGEING •Molecular characterisation of Progeria •Mimicking laminopathies using genome editing •Uncovering the mechanisms of neurodegenerative laminopathies •Nuclear compartimentalisation in ageing and (HPV-induced) cancer (Techniques: in vitro models –primary cell culture –genome editing –deep coverage microscopy –live cell imaging –molecular biology –proteomics –kinomics–photoporation) NEXT GENERATION MICROSCOPY •Deep coverage microscopy •Intelligent microscopy •In toto microscopy •Optomodulation
Keywords:CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, RESPIRATORY SYSTEM, NEUROENDOCRINE SYSTEM, ENTERIC NERVOUS SYSTEM, NEUROGLIAL INTERACTIONS, MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS, HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS, NEURO-IMMUNE INTERACTIONS
Disciplines:Gastro-enterology and hepatology, Morphological sciences, Respiratory medicine, Bioinformatics and computational biology, Molecular and cell biology, Signal processing, Neurosciences