Projects
Yeast cell surface display of PET-hydrolyzing enzymes to degrade PET and pretreat PET-containing organic side streams prior to black soldier fly larvae rearing (PETyFLY) KU Leuven
applied as packaging material. Given their frequent use, combined with the lack and/or failure of recycling programs, these plastics and their fragmented variants, i.e., micro, and meso plastics, are ubiquitously present in organic side streams. For example, PET plastics have been found in residual valuable biomass derived from the food industry, supermarkets, and restaurants. Should this biomass be used as feed for rearing insects, these PET ...
FWO-SB-Beurs: Innovating Yeast Display for the selection of nanobodies for difficult targets Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Excitons and Excitonic Complexes in Colloidal Nanocrystals: Impact of Dimensionality, Crystal Structure and Surface (CONEX) Ghent University
Colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) have become an established optical material with applications in opto-electronics, nanophotonics and quantum technologies. NCs combine a suitability for solution-based processing and tunable materials properties, for example through the NC size or dimensionality (0D, 1D, 2D). Such characteristics have a direct impact on the excitons and excitonic complexes created in NCs by light absorption, and understanding the ...
Study of the antifungal mode of action of plant defensins using single cell analysis KU Leuven
Yearly, invasive fungal infections (IFIs), such as candidemia and invasive aspergillosis, cause 1.7 million deaths worldwide and this number is still increasing, which can be mainly explained by the increase of the at-risk population, being immunocompromised patients, and the increased use of modern medical devices, such as implants and catheters. Mortality rates associated with IFIs are high (up to 50%) and the number of currently used ...
Gas cell stabilization in bread containing non-wheat cereals KU Leuven
Bread is an important staple food around the globe. In Europe and other parts of the world, it is most often made from wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) flour and mainly with a straight-dough process. This process starts by mixing flour, water, yeast, salt, and potentially a number of non-essential ingredients into viscoelastic dough. The dough is then fermented, which results in gas cell expansion and thus in an increased dough volume. ...
The development of a biomimetic cell-based construct for osteochondral regeneration using 3D bioprinting technology. KU Leuven
The edges of long bones that meet in a joint are covered with articular cartilage, a highly specialized tissue that protects the epiphyses from the friction and compression forces exerted in a joint. The joint surface cartilage can be damaged due to injury, disease or chronic conditions. Unfortunately, the articular cartilage has limited healing potential and defects in the articular surface can progress into the underlying subchondral bone. ...
Development of conditionally active enzymes based on recombinant binders KU Leuven
A key question in synthetic biology and other disciplines is how enzymes can be engineered so that their activity is controlled by the presence or absence of (near-) arbitrary stimuli. Conformational changes are a key regulatory mechanisms in proteins, but it is currently very difficult to generate protein domains that show pronounced conformational changes in response to a stimulus of choice.
This project aims to overcome this ...