Projects
Unravelling the potential of food protein fibrils: their extraction, engineering and functionality KU Leuven
Altering the structure of proteins impacts their functionality. Amyloid fibrils (AFs) are compact and rigid protein structures which are much studied in the context of diseases such as Alzheimer. Under specific conditions, different food proteins can form AFs. Their presence in daily-consumed food products and structure-function relationship in food remains unknown. This project will extract and characterize AFs from boiled hen egg white. The ...
Mapping of input-specific protein repertoires using state-of-the art genome engineering and imaging tools. KU Leuven
Cell-surface proteins (CSPs), including transmembrane, membranebound and secreted proteins, are key regulators of precise patterns of neural connectivity. How CSPs control the development and plasticity of specific synaptic connections is largely unknown. The hippocampal mossy fiber (MF) synapse is an important information processing pathway that undergoes marked changes in response to sensory experience. We recently established a workflow to ...
Protein engineering as an approach for broadening the substrate scope of industrially relevant enzymes. Ghent University
Development of microbial cell factories for the production of chitoheptaose and -octaose using metabolic and protein engineering: Promising molecules with an underexplored potential for plant, animal and human health Ghent University
At an amazing pace, synthetic biology, bio-informatics and systems biology are developing from metabolic engineering tools into major drivers of industrial biotechnology and thus, crucial factors in the transition to a knowledge-based bio-economy. Jointly, they allow the rapid development of bio-processes for products which are new-to-nature and which offer novel opportunities for solving problems not resolvable hitherto. Such a class of ...
Metabolic Characterization and Engineering of Streptomyces lividans Producing Heterologous Proteins KU Leuven
Engineering and study of peptide-based hydrogels for the sustained release of therapeutic proteins. Ghent University
In today’s world, proteins are remarkable therapeutic agents that allow the treatment of severe, chronic and life-threatening diseases, such as hepatitis, diabetes, atopic dermatitis. From a therapeutic perspective, they are highly potent and offer the distinct advantage of specific mechanisms of action. To overcome the hurdles posed by high molecular weight, short half-lives, instability, surface charge distribution and immunogenicity due to ...
PA14 carbohydrate-binding domains from yeast adhesive proteins: biophysical characterisation and engineering towards clinical applications. Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The Pizza protein as a starting point for protein nanotubes and helical fibrils KU Leuven
Proteins can be considered as nature’s most diverse building blocks which are involved in the various essential processes that constitute life. However, in the field of synthetic biochemistry and bio-nanotechnology, DNA has been the most successful building block so far to create a variety of shapes and applications, such as diagnosis and drug delivery systems. The preference of DNA over protein building blocks arose due to the fact that the ...
"DECORATE": moDulation of Tax1 - PDZ domain protEin – protein interaCtiOns foR the treAtment of HTLV-1 inducEd diseases Vrije Universiteit Brussel
(ATL). The design of targeted therapeutic agents against ATL, however, remains a considerable
challenge in medicine. Here, we propose a strategy aiming to identify and validate both small
molecule and peptidomimetic inhibitors of protein-protein interactions (iPPIs) between Tax1 – the
main viral oncoprotein – and human ...