Projects
Ethical, legal and social aspects of diagnostic direct-to-consumer tests. Case study: direct-to-consumer genetic testing. KU Leuven
Point-of-care tests in acutely ill children in primary care: what is their value for the diagnosis of serious infections and for rationalising antibiotic prescribing? KU Leuven
Towards a rapid diagnostic test for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura KU Leuven
Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) is an orphan disease that yearly affects 10 out of 1 000 000 people worldwide. Although no Belgian patient registry exists, it can be estimated that (based on French data) in the last 15 years, 150 new TTP patients arose. Upon an acute TTP episode, patients arrive in the hospital with various complaints (purpura, fever, haemolytic anaemia, neurological manifestations, renal dysfunction…), which ...
Towards a rapid diagnostic test for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura KU Leuven
The aim of the project is therefore to develop a rapid diagnostic test for TTP that allows to measure the 3 ADAMTS13 parameters, namely activity, antigen and autoantibodies.
Development of a diagnostic test for neonatal hypotonia caused by PREPL deficiency. KU Leuven
Diagnostic examinations of an autologous tumor-immune xenograft as a test platform for immunotherapeutic intervention with non-small cell lung cancer Ghent University
1. A systematic mapping of the dynamic interactions between growing tumors and the immune system, with a
dissection of molecular mechanisms leading to suppression/subversion of DCs and effector lymphocytes
particularly in lung cancer
2. Use this new knowledge to (i) manipulate DCs ex-vivo in order to create a vaccine resistant to the most
relevant in vivo suppressive signals, (ii) disrupt the immunosuppressive networks in ...
Development and clinical validation of a self-/point-of-care test for the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis and vulvovaginal candidiasis Ghent University
Vaginitis is the presence of vaginal symptoms such as discharge, itching and odor, and one of the main reasons women visit primary care. Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a disturbance of the healthy vaginal microbiome, and vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), a yeast infection, are by far the two most common causes. The number of misdiagnoses of these conditions by clinicians is extremely high due to overlapping symptoms and the lack of performant ...
Development of a fast, minimally-invasive and affordable test for accurate diagnosis of Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) using DNA methylation profiling. Ghent University
Three to five percent of people who are confronted with cancer will be diagnosed with Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP); a metastasized cancer of which the tissue-of-origin cannot be determined. If possible, a biopsy of the tumor will be taken for pathological examination, but this can take up to two weeks to plan, execute and analyze. Diagnosis usually requires multiple rounds of immunostaining, a slow and costly method that leaves about 34% ...
Mathematical Modelling for Pulmonary Function Tests KU Leuven
Spirometry is the foundational pulmonary function test (PFT) to monitor general respiratory health. It is used for evaluating abnormal respiratory symptoms, for diagnosing of obstructive airway diseases like chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and asthma, for monitoring response to therapeutic intervention and disease management, for assessing preoperative risks, and for measuring endpoints in clinical and epidemiological studies.
...