Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "Development of organoids from human and mouse teeth as novel and powerful tools to study tooth biology and pursue regenerative therapy" "Ivo LAMBRICHTS" "Cardio & organ systems, Morphology" "Tooth loss is an important health problem worldwide. Replacing lost or missing teeth with a biological tooth, preferably generated from the patient, would be highly superior to the current standard implantation of synthetic materials. Organoids, defined as self-forming three-dimensional in vitro reconstructions of an organ, provide a powerful means to pursue this goal. The tooth organoids obtained will be scrutinized to gain more insight into molecular and cellular mechanisms of tooth (stem cell) biology and tooth disease (i.e. caries). Taken together, our project will generate an innovative tooth in vitro model that will be highly valuable for studying tooth biology and disease, and will pave the way towards prevention and towards regenerative replacement therapy." "Low-frequency electromagnetic stimulation: exploring the (sub) cellular mechanisms in ischemic stroke" "Annelies BRONCKAERS" "Cardio & organ systems, Morphology" "Despite the high prevalence and devastating outcome, there are only few treatment options for ischemic stroke. Our project aims to explore magnetic stimulation (MS) as a new therapeutic tool. Preliminary data of our laboratory indicates that MS increases survival and neurological outcome in rats and gerbils subjected to severe permanent stroke. MS induced migration of endothelial cells (which align the blood vessels) and production of the important messenger molecule nitric oxide by nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in vitro. Successful repair after stroke consists of activating the endothelial cells and simultaneously protecting neurons from ischemic damage. Our preliminary data point to NO as a key regulator of magnetic stimulation-induced protection. Elucidating the link between magnetic stimulation, NO and brain repair after ischemic stroke is the goal of this project. We study how the produced NO promotes blood flow recovery by vessel dilatation (collateralization) in vivo. In addition, we investigate the subcellular mechanisms by which magnetic stimulation activates NOS in endothelial cells and how magnetic stimulation inhibits neuronal cell death. Insights obtained in this project will enhance our current knowledge of magnetic stimulation as well as of endogenous cellular and subcellular mechanisms after stroke." "Neural decoding for brain-machine interfaces" "Tom Theys" "Research Group Neurophysiology, Research Group Experimental Neurosurgery and Neuroanatomy, Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology" "Brain-computer interfaces provide a communication pathway between the human brain and an external machine, typically a computer. Two major approaches exist: invasive or intracranial and non-invasive brain-machine interfaces (BMIs). In the field of intracranial BMIs, attention has mainly been focused on recordings in the motor system.The aim of this project is to decode neural activity recorded in different cortical areas e.g. the visual cortex, premotor cortex or speech-related cortical areas. Data from the visual cortex can be used to reconstruct the visual image that is being looked at. From decoded signals recorded in the premotor cortex, control signals for robotic actuators can be extracted. Finally, data recorded in speech-related areas can be used to decode words during (silent) reading of texts. It will be investigated which decoding techniques are best suited for each of these tasks." "Mass cytometry by time-of-flight: next-generation flow cytometry for multiplexed single cell analysis" "Frederik De Smet" "Translational Cell & Tissue Research, Therapeutic and Diagnostic Antibodies, Centre for Molecular and Vascular Biology, Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology, Laboratory for the Research of Neurodegenerative Diseases (VIB-KU Leuven), Molecular Digestive Oncology, Laboratory of Angiogenesis and Vascular Metabolism (VIB-KU Leuven), Laboratory for Neuroimmunology, Research Group Experimental Neurosurgery and Neuroanatomy, Tracheal Transplantation, Laboratory for Disease Mechanisms in Cancer, Laboratory for Molecular Neurobiomarker Research, Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Laboratory of Tumor Inflammation and Angiogenesis (VIB-KU Leuven), Adaptive Immunology, Laboratory for Molecular Cancer Biology (VIB-KU Leuven), Translational Research in GastroIntestinal Disorders, Switch Laboratory (VIB-KU Leuven), Laboratory of Glia Biology (VIB-KU Leuven)" "Describing every single cell in the human body is one of the greatest challenges of our era. Single-cell technologies aim at mapping multiple properties of millions of single cells, both in health and disease. Flow cytometry is still the most important tool for single cell, targeted, protein-based analysis. However, standard fluorescence-based cytometry, which commonly measures 300 researchers across KU Leuven with access to state-of-the-art single cell technology." "Global WHO Rehabilitation Action Plan 2030: Clinical guidelines, mapping Rehabilitation services in Health Systems, Health economy, Competence frameworks" "Peter FEYS" "Rehabilitation Research Center" "On 17/11/2017 the Research Council has approved the short stay at World Health Organisation, departement 'Non-communicable diseases, disability, violence and injury', Zwitserland, chargeable to the BOF-program 'Short Stays - outgoing mobility'. The stay will take place in 2018." "Effect of play-based family-centered psychomotor/psychosocial stimulation on the recovery severly malnourished children of 6-60 months of age during nutritional rehabilitation in the Jimma zone of Ethiopië." "Marita GRANITZER" "Rehabilitation Research Center" "Due to malnutrition 47% of under-five children in Ethiopia are stunded (chronic malnutrition); 11% wasted (acute malnutrition) and 38% underweight (mixed acute/chronic malnutrition). Children surviving malnutrition are at developmental risk and need early intervention to minimize or reverse the deleterious effects. The main objective of the present study is to examine the effect of a play-based falily-centered psychomotor/psychosocial stimulation on the recovery of severely acutely malnourished children 6 mo.-6 yr. of age in Jimma Zone, south west Ethiopia." "Development and Growth Status of Children (6- 60 months of age) in Extreme Poverty in Jimma Town of Ethiopia: Effects of Developmental Stimulation." "Marita GRANITZER" "Rehabilitation Research Center" "Children living in a resource-limited context such as Ethiopia have developmental problems. It is not yet clear whether home-based developmental stimulation can help reduce the problems. The main objective of the present study was to examine the effects of play-oriented intervention integrated into basic services on the developmental performances of children living in extreme poverty. A randomized controlled trail design will be used. Eligible children under five will receive home-based developmental stimulation in addition to the basic services to be provided to children in both groups. Personal social, language, fine and gross motor outcomes will be assessed with Denver II-Jimma, and social-emotional outcomes will be obtained using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (ASQ: SE). Information about sociodemographic characteristics will be collected with a structured questionnaire. Anthropometric methods will be used to determine nutritional status. The effects of the intervention on the outcomes over the study period and group differences in change over time will be examined using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE)." "Oral beta Alanine Supplementation (with and without exercise training) in Patients with COPD: Structural, Metabolic and Functional Adaptations" "Martijn A. SPRUIT" "Rehabilitation Research Center" "Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of mortality worldwide. Daily symptoms such as exercise-induced breathlessness and fatigue are the starting point of a vicious circle of physical inactivity resulting in a loss of lower-limb muscle function. Oxidative stress also contributes to the development of lower-limb muscle dysfunction in patients with COPD. Carnosine is an amino acid that acts as an anti-oxidant, which reduces oxidative stress. However, pilot data suggest that muscle carnosine levels in patients with COPD are significantly lower in comparison to healthy peers, which might again be due to increased oxidative stress in the lower-limb muscles of patients with COPD. On the other hand, a nutritional supplement named beta-alanine has proven to increase muscle carnosine levels, and, in turn exercise capacity in untrained adults and elderly, but not yet in patients with COPD. Nevertheless, we can hypothesize that muscle carnosine levels will increase when supplementing beta-alanine and that in turn it will have a positive effect on lower-limb muscle function and exercise capacity by reducing oxidative stress. At the same time exercise training also reduces exercise-induced oxidative stress in lower-limb muscles, and improves lower-limb muscle function in patients with COPD. Therefore, this project will investigate the effectiveness of beta-alanine supplementation with and without exercise training on lower-limb muscle function and exercise capacity in patients with COPD." "Arginine depletion via Arginase-1 as a key mechanism of M2- macrophage-induced neuroprotection after spinal cord injury." "Sven HENDRIX" "Immunology & Infection, Morphology" "Worldwide, over two million people are affected by a spinal cord injury (SCI). This devastating disorder is a major cause of morbidity, mortality and reduced quality of life. Patients suffer from severe losses of motor, sensory and autonomic nervous system functions. Controlled immunomodulation therapy is the key goal to replace non-specific immunosuppression, which is still the state of the art intervention after SCI today. Pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages are crucial players in the inflammatory response following SCI. These cells dominate the spinal cord after injury where they exert detrimental effects by secreting pro-inflammatory factors, by stimulating the formation of the inhibitory fibrotic scar and by attacking dystrophic axons. Collectively, this will negatively affect functional recovery of the patient. Therapies to improve functional outcome after SCI by suppressing the detrimental M1 macrophages via pro-regenerative M2 macrophages are a hot topic in the field of central nervous system repair. Surprisingly, the precise mechanisms by which M2 macrophages exert beneficial effects after SCI remain unknown. Therefore, this project aims to elucidate a new mechanism by which M2 macrophages suppress the M1 group and thereby improve functional recovery after SCI. By doing so, this project can identify new targets within this pathway which can be used for the development of clinically relevant strategies." "Innovative imaging techniques to predict treatment outcome in pediatric obstructive sleep apnea." "Benedicte De Winter" "Laboratory Experimental Medicine and Pediatrics (LEMP)" "Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by intermittent collapse of the upper airway during sleep resulting in an abnormal sleep pattern and drops in oxygen concentration. It affects up to 50% of children with specific risk factors including obesity and Down syndrome. It results in neurocognitive impairment but can also augment for instance the obesity-related cardiovascular morbidity. Therefore, a correct treatment is mandatory. Adenotonsillectomy, the classical first line treatment, has a success percentage of only 50% or less. This implies that 50% of these children with OSA are at risk of being exposed to unnecessary surgery. The aim of this research project is to identify markers that could predict the outcome of this surgery in children with OSA. In a first study, we will identify markers that correlate with the severity of OSA in these children. More classical markers include for instance body mass index, neck circumference, tonsil size, etc. We will also use a more innovative approach with parameters obtained from CT-scanning and functional imaging methods to describe more detailed physical characteristics of the airway. Second, we will identify markers that predict the success of treatment. Finally, we will introduce an individualized approach by selecting a treatment a priori based on the airway characteristics of a specific patient. We will also use virtual surgery to determine if a specific child will benefit from surgery"