Projects
Unlocking Therapeutic Potential: Harnessing Extracellular Vesicles and miRNAs to Combat Muscle Wasting Disorders KU Leuven
Approximately 40% of the human body’s mass is comprised of skeletal muscle, making it the largest organ in the human body. These muscles play a crucial role in providing stability, supporting movement, and maintaining the integrity of internal organs. Importantly, skeletal muscles possess the inherent ability to grow and regenerate, whether in response to injury or as a result of physiological conditions such as exercise. This study explores ...
Exosomal miRNAs as a biomarker for early targeted therapy response in advanced triple negative breast cancer Ghent University
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous breast cancer subtype with limited
treatment options and poor prognosis following progression after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Transcriptional miRNA signatures of activation of MEK and PI3K pathways are highly prevalent in
TNBC and targeted therapies (TT) to modulate both pathways are in clinical trial. The current
challenge in clinical practice is learning to use the ...
Identification of miRNAs involved in hereditary breast cancer Ghent University
This project aims to identify miRNAs involved in hereditary breast cancer. For those MiRNAs that are predicted to regulate genes involved in breast cancer pathogenesis, the presence of germline variants in the genomic regions around miRNA precursors will be evaluated. Detected variants will be further investigated with functional studies and segregation analysis.
Deregulated transcriptional networks of regulatory miRNAs and protein coding genes in the pathogenesis of cancer Ghent University
Recent studies have indicated that miRNAs play an important role in cancer development. This concerted research effort aims to bring together the expertise within the Center for Medical Genetics in order to synergistically investigate the biology of miRNAs in cancer development. We will focus on deregultaed miRNA expression in selected pediatric malignancies, adult acute myeloid leukemia and breast cancer, focussing on the specifically ...
Identification of perturbed miRNAs during neuroblasoma development using neuroblasts as normal counterparts Ghent University
Neuroblastoma (NB) tumors arise from neuronal precursor cells of the sympathetic nervous system. We profiled 430 miRNAs of 100 well-characterized NB tumors and compared these to the miRNA profile of the cells-of-origin, the neuroblasts. This resulted in a set of 60 differentially expressed miRNAs. In this project, the role of several miRNAs will be further investigated in a series of in vitro and in vivo experiments.
Integration of miRNAs and long non-coding RNAs in the molecular circuitry of neuroblastoma tumors Ghent University
Because of their function as regulators of gene expression, miRNAs and lncRNAs are likely to act as a grid that connects different genes within and between relevant cancer pathways. Insights in the connectivity between protein-coding genes, miRNAs and lncRNAs could provide novel insights in the complexity of the cancer phenotype and present new ways to normalize the circuitry.
miRNAs as alternative second hits and potential therapeutic targets in hereditary breast cancer Ghent University
IWT / SB-2014 batch IWT / SB / Van Heetvelde Mattias / 131 739 miRNAs as second alternate hits and potential therapeutic targets in hereditary breast cancer
The role of miRNAs in neuroblastoma tumor initiation Ghent University
This project aims to gain insight into the role of microRNAs in the tumor initiation of neuroblastoma, a pediatric tumour. Therefore we will profile the miRNAome in a mouse transgenic MYCN NB model and correlate this with coding gene expression profiles. We will further evaluate selected miRNAs in vitro in NB cell lines and in vivo in mouse xenografts.
The role of miRNAs during bovine preimplantation development Ghent University
Although much improved, in vitro produced embryo's are still of inferior quality compared to in vivo embryo's. This is visible in a dysregulation of embryonic gene expression, leading to problems during foetal and postnatal development. Studies of regulation of embryonic gene expression have suggested that, next to transcription factors, epigenetic motifications and microRNA's are important regulators of gene expression