Projects
Development of new chemical tools to investigate the role of L-type calcium channels in diseases. KU Leuven
Voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) play a crucial role in maintaining calcium homeostasis, being involved in essential physiological processes, like excitation-contraction coupling, excitation-secretion coupling, and excitation-transcription coupling. Despite their paramount role in all-important human pathologies, the development of tools specifically targeting VGCCs lags compared to other transmembrane proteins. Current examples ...
3D Structural Platform for Chemical Excellence. Ghent University
Science communication Exploring to lay the chemical and biological space through the link between the three-dimensional structure of bio (molecules) and their physicochemical properties, chemical reactivity and function has been shown to be one of the revolutionary techniques on a methodological level in the (bio ) chemical sciences in the last century. This is structural information in the post-genomic era has become an integral part of the ...
Synthesis and surface chemistry of doped hafnium oxide nanocrystals for dual-modality bio-imaging Ghent University
Nanomaterials have been considered for a long time to be interesting for medical imaging due to their unique properties, they range from 1-100 nanometers in size, a billion times smaller than a meter. Nanoparticles can be designed in such a way that gives them the ability to perform multiple types of imaging, this is where our research comes into play. In this research proposal we aim to create a product which can (1) target cancer cells, (2) ...
Functional characterisation of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid (TRPV2) as a potential new target for endometrial cancer KU Leuven
Endometrial cancer is the fourth most common type of female cancer with a poorer prognosis and high risk of metastasis. Increasing evidence demonstrates that the Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 2 (TRPV2) exhibits oncogenic activity in endometrial cancers. Functional TRPV2 expression is linked to mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), providing strong evidence for a potential role of TRPV2 ...
Design of hafnium oxide nanocrystals as computed tomography contrast agent for damage detection in high-end composites. Ghent University
The demand for light-weight, sustainable and high-performance materials is increasing exponentially. Fiber reinforced polymers offer higher strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios than traditional materials such as steel, which allows for energy savings and carbon emission reductions. However, their heterogeneous and anisotropic nature makes their behavior far more complex than these traditional materials. In order to analyze their ...
Formation of Colloidal InP Nanoplatelets through Rational Synthesis Design Ghent University
Colloidal nanocrystals are becoming more and more prevalent in optical and opto-electronic
applications in lighting, energy and life science. This calls for a continuous, rapid progress of the
state-of-the-art in chemical synthesis, in particular to meet the RoHS directive on heavy metals in
terms of material composition, and to further improve their optical properties with targeted
nanocrystal sizes and shapes. ...
Brassinosteroid distribution and transport in roots Ghent University
Hormones play crucial role in plant growth and development. A tight control of hormonal balance
is determining factor for many developmental processes in plants, and whether the organ will
grow or bend in response to environmental cues or new organ will emerge at certain position, is
often a consequence of local hormonal levels. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are group of steroidal
hormones that promote the plant growth in a ...
Chemical tools for investigating epigenetic modulation and calcium mediated synaptic plasticity KU Leuven
Epigenetic modulation by HDAC (Histone Deacetylase) inhibition has been linked to improved memory formation due to enhanced synaptic plasticity through calcium mediated pathways. As such, HDACs could be potential drug targets for treating neurodegenerative diseases and depression. However, the physiological changes underlying regiospecific neuronal remodeling by systemic HDAC inhibition are still poorly understood. Therefore, we will ...
Restoring cognitive functions in neurodegenerative disease models. KU Leuven
The word ‘homeostasis’ is derived from two Greek words: ὅμοιος (homoios), which means ‘similar’ and στάσις (stasis), which translates to ‘standing still’. Homeostasis thus refers to the tendency of a system to maintain a stable, relatively constant internal environment, regardless of the outside changing conditions. The nervous and endocrine systems are responsible for maintaining homeostasis in the human body. For this, they rely on chemical ...