Projects
Study on the experssion of COVID-19 related proteins on lung cancer cells and the influence of standard of care therapy University of Antwerp
The Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine R&D decisions on the downstream Covid-19 Immunization System - Improving Strategic and Operational Preparedness for Future Virus Crisis Outbreak KU Leuven
Huge R&D efforts are still ongoing with the ultimate aim to provide the world with a vaccine in the coming year(s) against the Covid-19 virus. To achieve the ultimate goal of providing equitable access, and reaching the desired health outcomes of preventing new infections, deep insights in the impact of decisions made in the R&D stage of the novel vaccine on the vaccine supply chain and broader immunization system are needed. We ...
Unraveling of protective innate and adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in the setting of HCoV crossreactivity KU Leuven
Assessing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection for pregnancy and as possible cause of birth defects Vrije Universiteit Brussel
over the globe. Mortality rate is highest among the elderly while
people at reproductive age usually experience mild or no symptoms.
At current, data on SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy are
limited. Whereas infection during late trimester pregnancy seems to
occur without adverse events, a recent study reported maternal and
neonatal ...
Optimizing outbreak data management tools using epidemiological and genomic data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, and integrating artificial intelligence tools to allow for monitoring the evolution of an outbreak in real time KU Leuven
With 6 million deaths caused by COVID-19, and 30 Ebola virus disease outbreaks identified since the late 1970s, emerging diseases are an important and continuous cause for concern worldwide, as our ability to rapidly contain outbreaks emerging can rapidly have a global impact. A key element of disease control lies in the ability to rapidly understand transmission patterns and measure the impact of (non-)pharmaceutical interventions. In real ...
The impact of a SARS-CoV-2 infection on brain pathology and vice versa. Ghent University
Recent reports highlight the increasing number of patients who recovered from the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection but suffer from a prolonged or late-onset sequela, which are referred to as ‘long-COVID’ syndrome. The most frequent manifestations of ‘long-COVID’ encompass fatigue, ‘brain fog’, headache and cognitive impairment, suggesting the involvement of the central nervous system. In addition, patient data support the idea that SARS-CoV-2 ...
Role of autoantibodies against type I IFN in the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 and YFV KU Leuven
Type I interferons (IFNs) are ubiquitously expressed cytokines with essential contribution to both innate immunity and cell-intrinsic immunity against viral infections (Hoffmann, et al. 2015). Their receptors are present in most (if not all) cells and trigger the induction of IFN-stimulated genes (Darnell, 1997) which function to block viral replication. In addition, type I IFNs enhance antigen presentation and restrict viral infection ...
The yellow fever vaccine at work: Mechanisms and platform for chronic hepatitis B and COVID-19 vaccines KU Leuven
The live-attenuated yellow fever virus (YFV) vaccine YF17D has been administered hundreds of millions of times, since its development in the 1930s. It is considered an outstanding vaccine, because of its efficacy, a consequence of its ability to activate multiple arms of the immune system upon inoculation. Anti-YFV neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) have long been considered to be sufficient and required for protection. We have challenged this ...
Development of modified anhydrohexitol nucleic acid (HNA) and altritol nucleic acid (ANA) antisense oligonucleotides to combat SARS-CoV-2 KU Leuven
Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19, this pandemic virus has been a major global concern due to frequent appearance of variants that are highly transmissible and capable of evading the vaccine-elicited immune response. Antiviral drugs with high efficacy against multiple coronaviruses or variants are urgently needed to control the COVID-19 pandemic and future outbreaks by novel coronaviruses. Antisense oligonucleotides ...