Projects
Shaping the Social brain through early interactions Ghent University
The first three years of life are critical for children’ long-term development, health and wellbeing, since core brain functions are formed during this period and the brain is much more vulnerable to adversity, which is key for the emergence of developmental disorders (autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder). Identifying the mechanisms that act during early childhood to shape individual long-term social development is essential for ...
A mass spectromic approach to identify novel components of a key complex involved in auditory hair cell function, analysis of their interactions and functional characterisation. University of Antwerp
Triggering motor memory consolidation in Parkinson’s disease: the effects of complex practice on brain activity during learning of postural and fine motor tasks KU Leuven
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by severe motor symptoms, including postural instability and upper limb dysfunction that are only partially alleviated by medication. PD is also a motor learning disease due to the degradation of the striatum, involved in the consolidation of motor memory. We showed earlier that motor practice improves writing deficits and that there is long term potential when it is applied in a focused manner. ...
A platform for advanced single-cell pathological profiling of immune-brain interactions KU Leuven
Functional interactions across attention regions: a combined optogenetic, fMRI and electrophysiology study. KU Leuven
Visual attention improves behavioral performance by allowing subjects to focus on the most relevant information in complex scenes. To improve our understanding of the neuronal underpinnings underlying selective spatial attention, we aim to investigate the behavioral and functional impact of very short interruptions of activity in key nodes of the brain’s attention network during performance of attention tasks. First, we will use high ...
Local and systemic immune interactions in malignant gliomas KU Leuven
Glioblastoma (GBM), the most frequent primary intrinsic brain tumor, is without any doubt one of the most devastating diseases known to mankind. GBM are currently being treated with neurosurgical resection followed by radio- and chemotherapy. However, despite this treatment, prognosis for these patients is grim with a median survival of only 15 months and less than 20% 3-year survival rates. Already at diagnosis, GBM cells are infiltrating ...
Gut-brain interactions in the regulation of food intake: role of the endogenous cannabinoid system KU Leuven
Bidirectional signaling between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain is a critical player in the control of food intake. This complex signaling mechanism may be crucially involved in the pathophysiology of food intake disorders, including obesity and functional gastrointestinal disorders with disturbed appetite and weight loss. Based on animal data and recent human results from our group, we hypothesize that both the peripheral ...
Interactive effects of local and landscape scale restoration of semi-natural grasslands and agricultural fields on species interactions and ecosystem functions in different social-ecological systems KU Leuven
This project will investigate species interactions across different trophic levels including (1) plant-soil, (2) plant-pollinator and (3) bird-food resource interactions, in restored and degraded calcareous grasslands that are embedded in different socio-ecological and landscape contexts in three countries (Germany, Spain and Estonia). Additionally, it will measure ecosystem functions including soil functions, pollination and predation. ...
A Lattice Light Sheet microscope to image subcellular molecular dynamics, cellular forces, neuroimmune interactions and neuronal activity in 3D KU Leuven
All biological events, be it development, tissue homeostasis, brain and peripheral organ function, are tightly regulated by complex molecular or cellular networks. To understand how these molecules and cells operate and interact, it is best to study them in a situation that mimics their native and intact three dimensional (3D) environment as closely as possible. To understand the timing of these processes, it is crucial that we are able to ...