Projects
Valorization of novel strategies for the prevention of viral infection and inhibition of viral replication. KU Leuven
Antiviral drugs are only available for a handful of viruses. Also in the vaccine field a similar scenario can be seen. For many other viral infections that pose an important treat to human health (including re-emerging & neglected infections), there are no antiviral strategies available. The changing ecosystem increases the pressure on the appearance of (novel) viruses (with epidemic/pandemic potential). With this project, we aim to ...
Role of viral glycans and siglec receptors for infection of macrophages and viral immune evasion Ghent University
The role of different siglec receptors for viral infection of macrophages and the potential role of siglec-specific virus internatlization for immune evasion will be studied.
Developing an in vivo humanized mouse model suitable for the study of hepatotropic viral infection KU Leuven
The pharmaceutical industry is in high need of efficient and physiologically relevant in vitro and in vivo models to study hepatotropic viruses, screen for potential antiviral drugs and test for liver toxicity that might be caused by these and other drugs. Current in vitro models rely on primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) and hepatoma cell lines, which have major drawbacks. As an alternative hepatocyte source, the use of human pluripotent stem ...
Exploring viral evolution with respect to disease progression and therapy-response in HCV infection. KU Leuven
Viral and cellular factors involved in the infection and invasion of alphaherpesviruses in the respiratory and genital mucosae Ghent University
Alphaherpesviruses (aHV) of humans and animals cause respiratory and genital lesions In the promoter’ lab, respiratory and genital mucosa explants and respiratory epithelial cell cultures of several species have been developed to compare the behavior of different aHV All aHV have problems in infecting an intact epithelial cell layer The reason for this in the respiratory mucosa was recently found by the promoter’ team: the viral receptor is ...
Analysis of pathogenic variants in patients suffering from severe viral infection; unraveling known and novel inborn errors of immunity KU Leuven
This pHD thesis centers around genetic variants in inborn errors of immunityy that are yet not fully understood. The main aim of this thesis is the identification abd analysis of new pathogenic variants and their underlying mechanisms. The focus lays on protein and gene expression, protein localization and stability as well as interactions with other proteins. The study of pathogenic variants will be exhibited in both suitable cell lines and ...
Introducing mRNA vaccination in chicken: first steps towards a commercial mRNA vaccine against a leading viral infection in chicken Ghent University
In this project we will introduce our self-amplifying mRNA vaccine platform in chicken. To that end we will design and in vitro validate two mRNA vaccines encoding selected antigens of one of the most important pathogens in poultry production. Subsequently, we will formulate the sa-mRNA vaccines with UGent owned lipid nanoparticles and investigate their immunogencity and protection efficacy in a challenge study in chicken.
Investigation of Nanobody-based LYsosome TArgeting Chimeras (nanoLYTACs): a novel concept in therapy of cancer and viral infection. Ghent University
Drugs that mediate active degradation of their protein target are currently one of the most actively investigated areas in medicinal chemistry. Indeed, chimeric small molecule drugs (PROteolysis Targeting Chimeras, or PROTACs) have been invented that link up the target protein to an ubiquitin E3 ligase for subsequent proteasomal degradation, ablating all of the functions of the target protein. However, such strategies have been limited to ...
Optimize viral replication in primary human airway epithelial (HAE) cells for use in antiviral research to combat respiratory viral infections KU Leuven
This project focuses on exploring the use of HAE cultures to study the treatment of viral respiratory infections. HAE cultures will be used to evaluate novel antiviral strategies to combat Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infection and explore the kinetics of replication of different RSV virus strains. This will result in an optimized culture system to be used to characterize viral strains in a relevant ex vivo system and link viral factors ...