Projects
Application of new genomics technology on the road to personalized medicine. University of Antwerp
Synaptic Dysfuntion mediated by Alzheimer's disease-relevant Microglia (SynDAM). University of Antwerp
Exploring the lipid-regulating function of the DYT1 dystonia protein, torsinA, in neural development. KU Leuven
Mutations in TOR1A/TorsinA cause poorly explained and symptomatically complex neurological diseases. Dominant inheritance of a three-base pair deletion (Δgag) that removes a single amino acid (+/ΔE) underlies a partially-penetrant isolated dystonia that occurs despite a structurally normal brain. In contrast, recessive TorsinA disease caused by several biallelic combinations of mutations is characterized by a wide variety of severe ...
Treatment of osteochondral joint surface defects: towards engineering a bio-artificial joint. KU Leuven
Current clinical treatments for large long bone and osteochondral defects are limited by either tissue availability or incapacity to regenerate tissues to their original functionality. Regenerative medicine, and more specifically tissue engineering (TE), shows great potential to meet this clinical need by creating in vitro implants able to heal large bone and osteochondral defects. The current PhD project aimed to develop a ...
A novel in vitro antisense oligonucleotide neurotoxicity screen. University of Antwerp
Screening platform for therapies for peripheral neuropathies (SCREEN4PN) in induced pluripotent stem cell derived 2D and 3D models (extension of development phase 2). University of Antwerp
Development of new compounds to define the potential of TRPM4 inhibition for prevention and suppression of Ca2+ dependent cardiac arrhythmias. KU Leuven
Ca2+ dependent arrhythmias are a critical feature of conditions such as CPVT, ischemia and atrial fibrillation. TRPM4 is a Ca activated cation channel and an interesting drug target for the prevention and suppression of this type of arrhythmias. To date, the only in vivo applicable blockers of TRPM4 are meclofenamate and glibenclamide, which have obviously other prominent targets and have a relatively low efficacy to block TRPM4. Therefore, ...
Disturbances in Phospholipid Turnover in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease Type 1A Hasselt University
Impact of neuronal lysosomal dysfunction on RNA transport and local translation in Alzheimer’s disease KU Leuven
Alterations of the endolysosomal system are an early feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), preceding amyloid deposition, neuronal loss and cognitive impairment. Endolysosomes appear directly implicated in neuronal homeostasis and survival through their participation in local translation. Herein, mRNAs, bound to RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) in ribonucleoprotein complexes, appear to hitchhike on endolysosomes during axonal transport to reach ...