Projects

Despite the clinical success, a large fraction of patients remains unresponsive to immune checkpoint inhibitors. A growing body of evidence indicates that therapeutic unresponsiveness correlates with a lack of CD8+ T cells infiltration in the tumor microenvironment (TME). As the latter depends on prior innate immune activation and recruitment of dendritic cells, a window of opportunity emerges to re-engineer the TME from a so-called ...

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a devastating disease in pigs, characterized by reproductive and respiratory problems. It is caused by an arterivirus with a specific tropism for macrophages. Recently, more virulent strains emerged in Europe and Asia causing high mortalities. Vaccines are losing their efficacy and in order to find an answer to this problem, better insights in virus entry and immune response are ...

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a devastating disease in
pigs, characterized by reproductive and respiratory problems. It is caused by an
arterivirus with a specific tropism for macrophages. Recently, more virulent strains
emerged in Europe and Asia causing high mortalities. Vaccines are losing their
efficacy and in order to find an answer to this problem, better insights in virus entry
and ...

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.

Nanofibres are fibres with a diameter that is 1000 times smaller than a human hair. This makes
nanofibrous membranes very light and porous, ideally suited for advanced engineering
applications in various sectors. By adding a specific functionality (for example hydrophobic groups,
amines, thiol functions), the application field can even be extended. However, the material choice
and design are crucial for optimal ...

Muconic acid (MA) is a value-added product with conjugated diene and di-acid groups. Its growing visibility is due to its potential as starting material or versatile monomer for synthesizing value-added derivatives (adipic acid, terephthalic acid, …) or specialty polymers. Owing to diene functionality, three isomers of MA are present, namely cis,cis-MA, cis,trans-MA, and trans,trans-MA. Existent biotechnological technologies only produce the ...

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for all living organisms. Currently, P used in fertilizers and animal feed is largely extracted from non-renewable phosphate rock of which reserves are depleting. The European Union (EU) considers both P and phosphate rock as critical raw materials because of their strategic importance and the economic dependence on a limited number of non-EU suppliers. In this regard, it is important to recover P from ...

Zeolites – crystalline, microporous aluminosilicates consisting of three-dimensional networks of corner sharing tetrahedra - have been used in industry as catalysts, adsorbents and ion-exchangers for decades. The catalytic behavior of a zeolite is strongly influenced by its framework connectivity (topology), composition, morphology and texture. These properties depend on the synthesis conditions, but they can also be altered through ...

In the Campine, the main forest area of Flanders, acidifying nitrogen deposition is exceeding the critical load for decades. Consequently, many forests have acidified soils. Soil acidification has negative effects, including the leaching of base cations (Ca, Mg, K), which lower forest vitality and productivity. To assure the continued delivery of ecosystem services by forests, soil restoration has to tackle the root of the problem, i.e. the ...