Projects
Hitting coronavirus replication in its core by combined inhibition of the nsp12 polymerase and associated proteins of the replication-transcription complex KU Leuven
The current COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent the appearance of new variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To treat infected risk groups and prepare against future zoonotic coronavirus (CoV) outbreaks, the development and stockpiling of pan-CoV therapeutics must be prioritized. In this project, we investigate a class of CoV lead inhibitors, recently identified in our laboratory and acting after onset of viral ...
In vivo Directed Evolution of Ribulose-1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Using an Orthogonal DNA Replication System KU Leuven
To create an efficient and effective solar fuels process that combines solar electricity with biological organisms, any participatory enzymes in the cells need to have sufficiently high turnover rates to match the input of solar energy. A substantial breakthrough in this regard would be to develop an improved RuBisCO enzyme, which fixes CO2 from the atmosphere, with enhanced turnover rate and selectivity. In nature, RuBisCO has slow turnover ...
Pilot line for advanced freeform glass optics: prototyping, replication and metrology Vrije Universiteit Brussel
BRIP1 and FOXM1 controlling replication stress in the neuroblastoma tumor genome Ghent University
Neuroblastoma is a tumor arising in the nervous system and almost exclusively exist in children younger than five. Unfortunately, half of these tumors are very aggressive and still extremely difficult to cure. In recent decades it has been shown that neuroblastoma tumors almost have no mutations, but instead a lot of copy number alterations occur. One of these copy numbers is gain of 17q which is correlated with poor patient outcome. In this ...
Early replication stages of feline enteric coronavirus in its real target cell, the enterocyte. Ghent University
Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is the most feared infectious cause of death in cats, caused by the feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV). FIPV is a virulent mutant of the feline enteric coronavirus, an ubiquitous but harmless intestinal virus. The mutation provides FIPV with tools to replicate in monocytes, in which it can be spread over the whole body, resulting in a fatal, systemic disorder. As for other coronaviruses, curative ...
Single virus analysis of inhibitors of early HIV replication using fluorescence-based methods. KU Leuven
The HIV/AIDS pandemic remains an important threat to human health. Therefore, an intensified academic effort to increase our basic understanding of the molecular virology of HIV and to validate novel strategies and targets to treat or even cure HIV infection is of paramount importance. Despite elaborate research, key steps in the HIV replication cycle remain ill-defined mainly due to the lack of reliable assays. Most methods analyze lysates ...
Development of integrated single virus technology to study the early replication steps of HIV KU Leuven
HIV-1 requires various interactions with cellular cofactors to complete its viral replication cycle. In the first place, viral entry involves the interaction of the viral envelope protein with the host cell CD4-receptor and the CXCR4 or CCR5 co-receptor, resulting in membrane fusion and the release of the viral cone into the cytoplasm of the host cell. During the transport to the nucleus, the viral RNA is converted into double-stranded viral ...
Exploration of a novel archaeal virual DNA replication mechanism KU Leuven
Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on this planet. It is estimated that if you stack all viruses present on earth on top of each other, you would create a tower that stretches 200 light years into the universe. Viruses are everywhere, including in extreme environments, such as in natural boiling geysers. Viruses isolation from these ‘hot pools’ exhibit astonishing looks reflecting an egg or bottle. The stability of these ...
Mechanistic insights into the role of the WEE1 kinase upon replication stress Ghent University
Plants lacking WEE1 display normal development under control growth conditions, but are hypersensitive towards replication-inhibitory drugs. The underlying reasons for this hypersensitivity are currently unknown. Through the mapping of WEE1 complementation mutants we aim to uncover the mechanisms that account for the replication drug hypersensitivity of WEE1 deficient plants. In parallel, we aim to study WEE1 at the post-transcriptional ...