Projects
Quantitative approach to assess function and apoptosis changes in the H9C2 cardiomyocyte cell line following differentiation and Doxorubicin exposure KU Leuven
Introduction: For some decades, the anthracycline doxorubicin (DOX) has been used in the treatment of solid tumors and leukemia. It is one of the most widely and successfully applied chemotherapeutic drugs and over the last 20 years has increased the 5-year survival rates for pediatric cancer patients from 58% to 80%. However, the clinical utility and dosage regimens of DOX are often limited by severe side effects.
The most severe side ...
Development of a caspase-3 selective activity-based probe for PET imaging of apoptosis University of Antwerp
The role of aberrant splicing in apoptosis and therapy resistance in T-cell leukemia Ghent University
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is an aggressive blood cancer with survival rates of only 50%. Especially high-risk and relapsed disease cases present with poor prognoses. Current frontline therapy includes DNA damaging chemotherapy and glucocorticoids. However, as only 15-20% of all relapsed ALL cases present with new genetic alterations, various non-genetic mechanisms have arisen recently at the forefront of therapy research. Among ...
Physiological significance of pyruvate kinase M2 interaction with the IP3 receptor and its application as a new way to induce apoptosis. KU Leuven
The inositol trisphosphate (IP3) receptor (IP3R) is an intracellular Ca2+-release channel located on the endoplasmic reticulum and responsible for complex Ca2+ signals regulating a variety of intracellular processes including programmed cell death or apoptosis. The IP3R is itself modulated by various intracellular factors including regulatory proteins. Own preliminary results already indicated that pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), a metabolic ...
Apoptosis associated lncRNAs in HIV-1 infection: new targets to selectively kill latent viral reservoirs. Ghent University
HIV-1 integration inside the cell results in formation of a latent reservoir. An interesting approach to eliminate the latent HIV-1 reservoir is the so-called shock-and-kill method. For the shock part, competent agents have been described but an efficient killing mechanism is lacking. We will selectively target long non-coding RNAs linked to apoptosis to obtain this efficient killing mechanism.
Inhibition of apoptosis, autophagy and necrosis in atherosclerosis as potential therapy for plaque stabilization. University of Antwerp
Elucidation of the role of the apoptosis inducing DFNA5 protein via model systems in yeast, cell lines and the mouse. University of Antwerp
The development of a genetic tool to stably detect all apoptosis in the Drosophila brain KU Leuven
There is also emerging evidence that neurodegeneration of small numbers of neurons underlies neurological or psychiatric diseases not previously considered as degenerative. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to track neurodegeneration in vivo and current methods cannot detect small amounts of neurodegeneration. This project will aim to develop several genetic markers, and validate and deploy these in vitro and in vivo in fly and mouse. The ...
ER stress and the integrated stress response in the neurogliovascular unit: relation with inflammation and apoptosis in hepatic encephalopathy Ghent University
Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) describes the deterioration of brain function in patients with acute or
chronic liver failure. This entity, typified by cognitive, behavioral and motoric deficits, relates to
neuronal death, the origin of which is unknown in HE. It has been proposed that HE is a gliopathy,
referring to the aberrant neuronal function as a secondary effect to astrocyte dysfunction. HE is
...