Projects

Plant hormones play a crucial role in steering developmental processes and controlling responses towards (a)biotic stressors. For example, drought, salinity, and flooding stress evoke ethylene (by its precursor ACC) and abscisic acid (ABA) root-to-shoot signalling via the xylem to activate survival responses of the shoot. Especially with the advent of climate change, early stress detection is critical ...

This PhD project explores how resilience develops and is transmitted across generations, focusing on the dynamic interplay between hormones, attachment, and behavior. Resilience is not viewed as a fixed trait, but as an adaptive, multifaceted process shaped by biological, psychological, and relational factors. Special attention is given to the roles of key hormones (cortisol, DHEA, BDNF, and oxytocin) and to early caregiving ...

The overall scope of this project is to gain new insights in the relation between plant hormone networks, abiotic stress and rice-pathogen interactions to predict which key factors determine resistance or susceptilibity to pathogens and nematodes in rice. this knowledge will allow us to develop predictors or indicators that can be used in integrated control programs for rice pathogens

The overall scope of this project is to gain new insights in the relation between plant hormone networks, abiotic stress and rice-pathogen interactions to predict which key factors determine resistance or susceptilibity to pathogens and nematodes in rice. this knowledge will allow us to develop predictors or indicators that can be used in integrated control programs for rice pathogens

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a key phytohormone in plant growth, developmental processes and responses to (a)biotic stresses. While the canonical ABA-signaling cascade involves ABA-protein interactions with the PYR/PYL/RCAR receptors and protein phosphatases 2C, our understanding of other potential direct ABA interactors remains limited. Preliminary data from the Goossens lab, employing limited proteolysis-coupled mass spectrometry and in silico ...

Epinasty is the downward bending of plant leaves, a characteristic response of species such as tomato to hypoxia in the root zone during waterlogging. These low oxygen conditions stimulate the accumulation and upwards transport of the ethylene precursor ACC. In the shoot, ACC is converted into ethylene, which activates a regulatory cascade to evoke differential elongation in the petiole and eventually epinasty. The dynamics of this response ...

In an era of food abundance, uncontrolled appetite and overeating is an issue We hypothesize that environmental factors modify gut hormones incretion, which in turn affect appetite and obesity  over the first two decades of life Data from two ongoing cohorts will be used: a 4y follow-up birth cohort and a 10y follow-up in adolescents We will test whether psychological (stress) and physiological (greenness/pollution) environmental ...

Before puberty, asthma prevalence is highest in boys but there is a sharp decrease during puberty. Two thirds of adult asthma patients are female, who typically have a more severe phenotype and a lower quality of life compared to men. In addition to genetic and environmental factors these data suggest a pivotal role of sex hormones, namely testosterone (T), in the pathogenesis of asthma.
While epidemiologic and observational studies have ...