Projects
Process monitoring and controlled biomanufacturing of human periosteum derived progenitor cells for cell therapy applications KU Leuven
Cell-based products are an important innovation on the pharmaceutical market. These advanced therapy medicinal products are able to regenerate defects or treat diseases, where other pharmaceuticals fail or only treat the symptoms instead of the disease. The applications of such cell-based therapies vary between treating cancer with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy and regenerating cartilage or bone defects with a cell-based tissue ...
Metabolic and epigenetic interplay in neural progenitor cells: investigating neurodevelopmental disorders associated with impaired neural progenitor cell expansion (MEPIcephaly). KU Leuven
Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) result in variable neurological and psychological impairments. Here, we focus on microcephaly-associated NDDs that are characterized by a critical decrease in brain size, primarily caused by impaired neural stem and progenitor cell (NPC) expansion in the fetal neocortex. Previously, gene mutations associated with abnormal cell cycle progression, centrosome formation and DNA repair have been identified, yet a ...
Biology and pathobiology of the hepatic progenitor cell niche. Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The role of hypoxia in primary liver cancer and liver progenitor cell activation Ghent University
In this research, we would like to assess the influence of hypoxia and reduced oxygen sensing on liver proginitor cells and how this could influence tumor development. In the future, this could lead to new therapeutics, in which this process could be selectively targeted.
The hepatic progenitor cell niche under experimental conditions and in human liver disease Ghent University
The purpose of this research proposal is to study the morphology, function and cellular physiology of the progenitor cell niche in the normal and diseased liver. Local adult progenitor cell niches are special microenvironments that contain somatic progenitor cells (ASPCs). The latter are generally slow-cycling cells which give rise to transit amplifying cells (TACs) that leave the niche. TACs cycle faster than progenitor cells but have a ...
Investigating stretch-induced regulation of pulmonary progenitor cell responses in fetal lung development and disease. KU Leuven
Fetuses who are affected by congenital diaphragmatic hernia have an abnormal lung development. Their lung tissue is smaller in size and often unable to perform its usual function after birth, namely breathing and adequate gas exchange. Currently these fetuses are treated by an intervention (called tracheal occlusion) that aims to improve the size of the lungs. This leads to a better survival of these babies after birth. Yet the intervention ...
The hepatic progenitor cell niche: under experimental conditions and in human liver disease KU Leuven
The hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) are the stem cell-like cells of the liver. They are small, situated in the canals of Hering, and are characterized by a relative large oval nucleus and scanty cytoplasm. HPCs express both markers of (immature) hepatocytes (e.g. alpha-fetoprotein) and markers of cholangiocytes (e.g. cytokeratin K7 and K19) and can differentiate into cholangiocytes or hepatocytes. Nevertheless, the mechanisms behind ...