Projects
Sustainable Introduction of GMOs into the European Agriculture Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In the SIGMEA project, more than 20 European research institutes work together to provide an interdisciplinary answer to the question, "Which minimum package of scientific information do the legislators need in order to be able to achieve a stepwise release of GMOs in Europe?" The three topics are environmental impact, detection capability and coexistence. Specifically, the project aims to work ...
Quantum Rules for Nanoclusters. KU Leuven
Nanochemistry recently emerged as a new branch of chemistry, simultaneously expanding into many new areas, and playing a significant role in fields that were domains of engineering or life sciences. Nanochemistry brings together multiple disciplines using chemical theories and experiments to investigate materials at the nano scale. Emerging nanomaterials include the nanoclusters. The elemental clusters are of great interest due to their ...
Statistical physics and theoretical physics of condensed matter KU Leuven
My research focuses on the theoretical description of phase transitions and critical phenomena using the methods of statistical mechanics. In particular I study cooperative phenomena at surfaces and interfaces, notably wetting phase transitions. The systems under investigation include molecular fluids and complex fluids (e.g. liquid crystals and colloid-polymer mixtures), ultracold gases and Bose-Einstein condensates, superfluids and ...
Arrhythmias in heart failure KU Leuven
With the team we study rhythm disturbances and heart failure, identifying cellular and molecular pathways, in exploratory mechanistic and translational studies. The research program is embedded in collaborations with clinical cardiologists, imaging research and molecular and cellular studies within KU Leuven, supported by institutional and national funding. Translational research is also organized in an international context by multilateral ...
Research towards understanding the control and regulation of the energy balance in chickens KU Leuven
The general aim of my research project is to gather more insight in the control and regulation of the energy balance in avian species, with the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) as model species. This energy balance is the net result of energy intake on the one hand and energy expenditure on the other hand. With respect to energy intake, attention is specifically focused on the hypothalamic neuropeptides that can be classified as either being ...
Resilience and vulnerability in the cellular phase of Alzheimer’s disease. KU Leuven
This project proposes an integrative approach to assess how the different pathological mechanisms of AD are linked to each other and how genetic risk of AD underlays resilience or vulnerability. While the classical neuron-centric view on AD pathogenesis sees amyloid peptides as triggers of synaptic dysfunction and Tau pathology as the executor of neurodegeneration, it is now clear that other cell types also react to amyloid plaques and that ...
Ore geology and geofluids research KU Leuven
General theme
The ore geology research line focusses on (1) Sediment-hosted deposits, such as stratiform Cu-Co deposits in the Central African Copperbelt and stratabound Zn-Pb deposits worldwide, and (2) Ta-Nb-Sn-Li pegmatite and Sn-W-Au quartz vein deposits in Central Africa (Burundi, DRC, Rwanda), Europe and the USA. This research line applies detailed field work and state-of-the-art petrographic and analytical techniques. This ...
Understanding non-genetic processes remodelling the tumor ecosystem, cancer cell death and immune escape mechanisms KU Leuven
Efficient tumor clearance by anticancer therapies requires effective therapy-mediated debulking along with the engagement of the immune system. The induction of regulated cancer cell death (RCD) able to reinstate, rather than suppressing, anticancer immune responses -so called immunogenic cell death - is therefore a highly desirable therapeutic effect. However, the recognition and clearance of residual cancer cells by the immune system, ...