Projects
Towards the use of in vitro and in silico T-cell response prediction to guide the development of vaccines, using mRNA-based rabies vaccine as a proof-of-concept. University of Antwerp
The yellow fever vaccine at work: Mechanisms and platform for chronic hepatitis B and COVID-19 vaccines KU Leuven
The live-attenuated yellow fever virus (YFV) vaccine YF17D has been administered hundreds of millions of times, since its development in the 1930s. It is considered an outstanding vaccine, because of its efficacy, a consequence of its ability to activate multiple arms of the immune system upon inoculation. Anti-YFV neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) have long been considered to be sufficient and required for protection. We have challenged this ...
Viruses as tool and target: A Synthetic Biology approach towards exceptionally potent prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines KU Leuven
Response to emerging infectious disease threats requires the development of potent vaccines. By using the yellow fever 17D (YF17D) vaccine as exceptionally powerful viral vector, a series of novel recombinant vaccines has been engineered against several (highly) pathogenic agents such as the Zika, Ebola, and SARS-CoV-2 viruses, by integrating insight from the molecular virology (replications strategy, antigen structure and pathogenesis) of ...
Immunogenicity after COVID-19 vaccines in adapted schedules (IMCOVAS). University of Antwerp
Deciphering the dendritic cell compartment in ovarian cancer to assess their potential as tumor vaccines. KU Leuven
Advanced stage ovarian cancer (OC) patients only have an overall 5-year survival of 20%. While targeted therapies such as PARP inhibitors have improved progression free survival, immunotherapy has so far not resulted in clear patient benefit. Importantly, the role of tumor-dendritic cells (DCs) as a key player in mounting an adaptive immune response has not been investigated yet in OC. Indeed, our lab has uncovered that vaccination with ...
Research on the containment of antibiotic resistance and the immune response of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines. University of Antwerp
Guarantee the safety of live Salmonella vaccines by introducing deletions in genes crucial for egg contamination Ghent University
Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Enteritidis is a pandemic pathogen, present in
countries with industrial poultry production since the 1990s. Ingestion of this foodborne
pathogen by humans results in gastroenteritis and is linked to contaminated eggs and egg
products. Salmonellosis caused by Salmonella Enteritidis in chickens however does not lead to
clinical symptoms but causes enormous economic losses. ...
Evaluation of immunogenic properties of modified mRNA and self-replicating RNA based vaccines against cancer Ghent University
Messenger RNA-based cancer vaccines have recentrly gained much scientific and clinical attention due to their promising performance and distinguished safety profile. An important advantage of mRNA vaccines over peptide- or cell-based therapy is their faster production, cheaper cost, and precisely defined composition. The main goal of this doctoral thesis was to improve mRNA by 1) optimizing mRNA delivery to target cells and 2) constructing ...