Projects
Pathogen-driven gastrointestinal microbiota in passerines: anthropogenic environments as a model. Ghent University
Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium could be the cause of fatal septicaemia in wild birds. The general hypothesis of this project is that birds living in urban, suburban and rural regions may locally adapt to increased pathogen pressure through GI microbial composition alteration which, in turn, reduces the pathogen’s virulence. This hypothesis will be investigated in field populations of house sparrows along urbanization gradients.
Impact of the dynamic nature of the human gastrointestinal tract on drug and formulation behavior. KU Leuven
Authorized drugs intended for oral administration often suffer from suboptimal or variable performance in clinical practice. In addition, many promising drug candidates fail during costly and time-consuming clinical trials. An important cause of these problems is a poor prediction of intestinal drug absorption. While the pharmaceutical industry expresses an urgent need for more predictive simulation tools, their development requires a ...
Reciprocal innervation of the gastrointestinal ileo-caeco-colonic triad; implications for storage and release of symbiotic microbial content KU Leuven
Apart from supplying the host with nutrients and expelling undigestible remnants and noxious elements that we ingest, the gastrointestinal tract also harbors a large community of bacteria, which operate in symbiosis with its host to aid digestion and provide essential factors. The importance of the microbiome has been a matter of increased interest, and shifts in its composition have been linked to intestinal malfunction and disease. It is ...
Pediatric biopharmaceutics: translating gastrointestinal characteristics into improved predictive absorption tools. KU Leuven
Until recently, pharmaceutical companies have never been encouraged to perform clinical studies in the pediatric population; as a result, off-label use of drugs in children is still common. Regulatory authorities have recognized this problem and have introduced incentives and requirements for the pharmaceutical industry to include pediatric studies in their development programs. An efficient drug development process is guided by reliable ...
Characterization and modulation of the enteric neuroimmune environment during septic ileus. University of Antwerp
Characterisation and modulation of the enteric neuroimmune environment during endotoxin-induced ileus. University of Antwerp
Influence of microbiota on intestinal stem cell behaviour and differentiation in inflammatory bowel diseases. KU Leuven
Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) are the two major forms of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), which are chronic and progressive diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The exact cause is unknown, but it has been suggested that the diseases result from an abnormal immune response towards environmental factors, such as the microbiota, in a genetically predisposed person. Current therapies aim to stop this inflammatory cascade. ...
Bio-encapsulation in yeast for delivery of intestinal epithelium-protecting and microbiome-manipulating biopharmaceuticals Ghent University
The composition of the intestinal microbiome and the integrity of the intestinal mucosal barrier is crucial for the proper functioning of the human physiology. As a result, this field of research provides various targets in order to intervene pharmacologically into it, both in the body's own cells concerned and as regards the bacterial species present. The intervention with high specificity on molecular targets has been achieved up to now ...
The impact of interspecific interactions on the evolution of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial communities KU Leuven
It is widely accepted that the discovery of antimicrobial compounds represents one of the most important findings of the previous century, however, the overuse of antimicrobials has contributed to accelerated resistance development, leading to the evolution of multi-resistant “superbugs”.
Bacteria are social organisms that commonly live in dense communities surrounded by a multitude of other species. The social interactions (i.e., the ...