Projects
Kidney stem/progenitor cells as a potent source for kidney-targeted cell therapy KU Leuven
End stage kidney disease (ESKD) is the result of a permanent failure of the kidneys. Kidney failure is caused by the irreversible loss of nephrons, the structural and functional units of the kidney. Although the final patterned and segmented nephrons contain numerous functionally distinct cell types, lineage tracing showed that all these cell types are derived from a SIX2+ progenitor’s population at the kidney cap mesenchyme (CM). The ...
Kidney stem/progenitor cells as a potent source for kidney-targeted cell therapy. KU Leuven
Chronic kidney disease affects 1 in 10 people worldwide with a significant proportion of patients progressing towards kidney failure. For these patients, kidney transplantation represents the treatment of choice. However, the success of this treatment depends on the availability of kidney grafts, which currently points out to a shortage of organs. At the same time, a considerable amount of donated kidneys are declined for transplantation due ...
BruStem: Regenerative medicine of the liver using synergistic mixtures of immature or mature human hepatocytes with mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells or with hepatic stellate cells. Vrije Universiteit Brussel
An integrated study on macrovascular heterogeneity based on stem/progenitor cells and small animal models. KU Leuven
Research during the last decennium has revealed an extensive heterogeneity among endothelial cells - the cells that line the inside of blood and lymphatic vessels - at the functional, molecular and structural level. This diversity manifests itself at different levels: firstly, there are remarkable differences between endothelial cells from arteries, veins and lymphatic vessels. Moreover, there are unique characteristics for ...
The Yin and Yang of PDGF signaling in Skeletal Stem/Progenitor Cells: mechanisms underlying its roles in age-related bone loss and anabolic bone responses KU Leuven
Age-related osteoporosis and non-healing fractures pose major clinical problems. There is urgent need for effective and safe bone-building drugs and regenerative cell therapy procedures. Bone-forming osteoblasts are derived from skeletal stem/progenitor cells (SSPCs). Despite their importance in safeguarding bone mass with age and mediating skeletal repair, very little is known about the mechanisms controlling the preservation and activation ...
Paracrine and transcriptional regulation of renewal and differentiation of embryonic and adult multi-potent progenitor cells in vertebrates KU Leuven
Towards Mimicking the Foetal Liver Niche: Engineering 3D Hydrogel Systems for in-vitro Culture of Hematopoietic Stem Cells KU Leuven
Within my PhD, I will be working on the development of 3D culture systems for the in-vitro culture of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs), which are a small population of stem cells giving rise to all blood cells during the lifespan of the organism. These 3D culture system will be designed to mimics key biophysical and biological features of the fetal liver (FL) niche, the home place of these stem cells during mammalian development. ...