Projects
Targeting ATP13A3-dependent Polyamine Transport for Neuroblastoma Therapy KU Leuven
In order to sustain their hyperproliferative phenotype, neuroblastoma cancer cells strongly rely on an increased polyamine pool, thus targeting polyamine homeostasis represents an attractive therapeutic strategy. However, the drug difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) that inhibits polyamine synthesis has so far been unsuccessful in the clinic due to the compensatory upregulation of cellular polyamine uptake. Therefore, combination therapy that ...
Development of polyamine membranes KU Leuven
Large scale energy storage is becoming increasingly important and redox flow batteries have gained a lot of attention in this regard. Ion exchange membranes are a crucial component of redox flow batteries in terms of performance and cost-efficiency. Polyethers and polyamines are promising candidates for the development of these ion exchange membranes due to their excellent stability. This project aims to test the applicability of these ...
Development and in vivo validation of a kit for polyamine transport tracking and quantification KU Leuven
Synthesis and application of probes for serine and cysteine hydrolases and the polyamine transport system KU Leuven
Activity-based probes (ABPs) are small molecular tools that allow the detection and monitoring of enzyme activity by covalently binding onto the active site of the enzyme. They consist of a warhead that binds the enzyme, a recognition element that alters the selectivity of the probe and a detection tag that allows the visualization, quantification or purification of probe-labeled enzymes. ABPs are applied to elucidate enzyme function, enzyme ...
Solvents in membrane synthesis and their effect on NF/RO performance: from conventional organic solvents to ionic liquids KU Leuven
Membrane technology has grown significantly over the last decades and is used in a broad range of applications nowadays. Nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) are applied for the separation of low molecular weight components (< 1000 Da) and salts from the feed stream. The main part of the commercial NF and RO membranes are either integrally skinned asymmetric (ISA) or interfacially polymerized thin film composite (TFC) membranes. ...
Polymer surfaces with functional coatings Ghent University
The synthesis, mechano-chemical properties and rheological behaviour will be characterised for co(polyimide-styrene) coatings that are structured at different levels: continuous coatings, nano-particle (pure or core-shell) and nanofiber coatings, hybrid coatings with nanoparticle/nanofiber interaction and lateral structured layers controlled by surface energy. The local composition of nano-micro structures will be related to the macroscopic ...
Catalysis and solvation based strategies for building block recovery from End-of-Life polymers KU Leuven
Since the advent of entirely synthetic plastics in the beginning of the 20th century, humanity has entered the Age of Plastics and has not left it ever since. Gradually, different types of functional polymers were developed and employed, serving as cheaper, lighter and often safer alternatives to traditional raw materials like metal, glass and paper. This plastic revolution brought a vast amount of new opportunities to our growing economy and ...
Tuning Process Parameters and Polymer Powder Formulation for Laser Sintering KU Leuven
Additive Manufacturing (AM), popularly known as 3D printing, is a novel group of technologies to manufacture geometrical complex parts without the need for dedicated tooling. The market of AM technologies and products has seen a consistent growth and expansion into new applications. Laser Sintering (LS) is one of the AM techniques that makes use of a laser to selectively fuse a preheated bed of thermoplastic polymer powder.
Researching ...