Projects
Glucocorticoid regulation of systemic immunometabolism in malaria KU Leuven
Malaria is a parasitic disease that poses a major health threat to the world with an estimated 219 million cases and 435000 deaths in 2017. Especially the complications of malaria are life-threatening and have ~15% fatality rates despite antimalarial treatment. These complications include amongst others cerebral malaria, severe anemia and respiratory problems and are further worsened by metabolic disturbances, such as hypoglycemia and ...
Deciphering the fundamental role of sequestration and its interrelation with inflammation in malaria pathogenesis KU Leuven
Malaria is a worldwide tropical disease with an unacceptable high disease burden. Especially malaria complications such as cerebral malaria and malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (MA-ARDS) are life-threatening. The pathological mechanisms are incompletely understood and involve both parasite and host factors including inflammatory processes. In this project, we will focus on parasite sequestration, which is the binding of ...
Disease resolution mechanisms and interrelation with dysmetabolism in severe malaria KU Leuven
Malaria is a worldwide health problem with a high disease burden. More than 200 million clinical cases and 600000 deaths occur each year. Most of the lethality is due to malaria complications, such as cerebral malaria and malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome. Metabolic disturbances are also highly associated with mortality. Current antimalarial treatment is based on highly efficient artemisinin combination therapies which ...
The interrelation between endogenous glucocorticoids, inflammation and metabolic disturbances in malaria KU Leuven
Yearly, almost half a million of people die from malaria, a global parasitic disease. The mechanisms that explain why some people progress from uncomplicated to complicated malaria remain poorly characterized and this impedes the development of novel treatments. Disease tolerance mechanisms promote survival by limiting the pathological consequences of the infection without interfering with parasite load. In our recent study, we revealed that ...
A geostatistical framework to forecast malaria incidence in the context of climatic events KU Leuven
Malaria is a life-threatening disease that causes a significant public health burden worldwide. Malaria incidences show considerable temporal and geographical variation, which can be linked at least partly to climatic conditions. Over the last twenty years, multiple Malaria Early Warning Systems (MEWS) have been developed. These systems primarily focus on short-term incidence predictions, but there is a growing demand to implement long-term ...