Projects
Artificial Lithographic MODel for COrNeal drug Screening Ghent University
The cornea is the transparent window to the eye and as such, eye drops are an interesting route of drug administration. In this project, we propose the development of a 3D corneal cell model that can be used to investigate corneal drug interaction. Studies that aim to simulate the pharmacokinetics and toxicological properties of drugs are mainly based on oversimplified 2D monocultures or animal studies that suffer from interspecies ...
Development of a superior in vitro model for drug hepatoxicity screening through 3D printing of crosslinkable biopolymers. Ghent University
Developing drugs is a time- and cost-intensive process. During drug development, different phases are required for a drug to finally reach the market. During the discovery and development phase, thousands of compounds are synthesized, of which the most appropriate reach the preclinical phase. During this phase, in vitro and in vivo tests are performed in an attempt to track toxicity. Due to ethical as well as economic constraints, there is a ...
Artificial Lithographic MODel for COrNeal drug Screening (AL MOD CONS). University of Antwerp
Development and preclinical assessment of a multiplex, single-cell, protein-based assay for functional drug screening of glioblastoma KU Leuven
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the deadliest brain tumor, and remains, to date, largely incurable. GBM’s poor prognosis has been attributed to a broad heterogeneity occurring not only between different patients, but also within each tumor. The diversity and complexity of this disease suggests a need for more personalized treatments, which is not being met by current standard-of-care. In this project, I will overcome this issue by directly evaluating ...
Experimental evolution in Candida biofilms: does drug tolerance facilitate drug resistance development in fungi?Experimental evolution in Candida biofilms: does drug tolerance facilitate drug resistance development in fungi? KU Leuven
Invasive fungal infections pose a profound and growing public health threat with treatment failure and mortality estimates often surpassing 50%. Only three major antifungal drug classes are available to treat lethal fungemia and the incidence of resistance to these drugs has risen significantly in recent years. Moreover, multidrug resistant (MDR) ‘superbugs’ like Candida auris have emerged. Despite these alarming concerns, fungal infections ...
Unravelling the mechanisms of drug resistance to proteasome inhibitors to optimize treatment in patients with multiple myeloma KU Leuven
Proteasome inhibitors (PIs) are a backbone of multiple myeloma (MM) treatment, yet clinically applicable markers of resistance to PIs remain largely elusive. This project uses CRISPR screens to better understand mechanisms of drug resistance to PIs. To identify genes involved in proteasome inhibitor response, we will perform genome-wide CRISPR knock-out and activation screens in MM cell lines. In addition, we will perform a novel CRISPR ...
Identification of drug resistance mechanisms and acquired sensitivities in resistant cancer cells using genome-wide CRISPR-mediated screens KU Leuven
Multidrug resistance is a major issue in the cancer field. To counter this problem, extensive research unravelling the molecular mechanisms underlying multidrug resistance is highly needed. This enables the discovery of biomarkers and facilitates the identification of novel drug targets. For this purpose, genome-wide CRISPR screens, based on gene activation and gene knock-out, will be implemented. In this way, resistance mechanisms to ...