Projects
Translational research related to Corona-Covid 19 KU Leuven
The unpredictability of the COVID-19 disease course poses a major burden on health care and economic systems across the world. This is mainly caused by a lack of in-depth knowledge of the diverse host factors that dictate COVID-19’s severity. While it is known that the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 can become heavily dysregulated leading to patients’ admissions to intensive care units, the details of how and when this happens remain largely ...
Generation of potent, broadly betacoronavirus neutralizing antibody constructs Ghent University
Betacoronaviruses can cause deadly, rapidly spreading zoonotic infections. The world is currently witnessing the global spread of COVID-19, which is caused by SARS-CoV-2 and has killed already almost 3000 people. There are no vaccines or antivirals on the market to prevent or treat disease caused by these newly emerging beta coronaviruses. The aim of this project is to develop an antibody-based biological that can neutralize a broad range of ...
Characterization of hepatitis C virus infected B-lymphocytes and their impact on the evolution of acute infection and therapy outcome Ghent University
Worldwide an estimated 170 million people are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and, after decades, have a significant risk at developing severe liver disease and liver cancer. Until recently therapy was accompanied with severe side effects and efficacies ranged from 50 to 70%. Recently HCV-specific direct antiviral agents increased efficacy rates to above 95% for most infected individuals. However, these therapies are ...
Hybrid CARs on the road to HIV cure Ghent University
Antiretroviral therapy -the current gold standard in HIV treatment- fails to provide a definitive cure. However, cell therapies for HIV are increasingly gaining ground, with the use of Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs) being widely explored. CAR-T cell therapies have been successfully applied in oncology, particularly in hematologic malignancies, reaching up to 90% remission. In infectious diseases, all previously explored CAR-based ...
VyCAP single cell isolation platform for high-quality single-cell analysis KU Leuven
Unraveling of protective innate and adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in the setting of HCoV crossreactivity KU Leuven
A sustainable vaccination strategy for cross-clade protection against H1N1 influenza viruses of swine and humans Ghent University
We believe that consecutive immunization with antigenically distinct influenza viruses within the same subtype, or with closely related subtypes, can induce broadly-neutralizing antibodies against the viral HA. Using this concept and the pig model of influenza, we will develop vaccination strategies that can protect swine and humans against any H1N1 virus clade, as well as potentially pandemic avian H5 viruses.
Droplet-based microfluidics for high throughput, antibody-free detection of single cell proteins in response to external stimuli KU Leuven
Cells within a population demonstrate heterogeneities in their genome, transcriptome and proteome, leading to unique cell phenotypes and responses to stimuli. Therefore, numerous single-cell analysis techniques have emerged that allow distinguishing between cell subpopulations and identifying cells with characteristics of interest. In the recent decades, the fields of microfabrication and microfluidics have revolutionized single-cell studies ...
Investigation of the mechanism of immune protection evoked by a novel RSV vaccine candidate based on the ectodomain of the small hydrophobic protein. Ghent University
We recently developed a novel vaccine based on the ectodomain of the RSV small hydrophobic protein. The aim of this project is to elucidate the mechanism by which SHe based vaccination protects against RSV infections. As SHe specific immune serum or monoclonal antibodies do not neutralize RSV infection in vitro, we will investigate the role of immune cells in vaccination induced immunity in vivo. More specifically we will investigate the ...