UAntwerp – Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences
Blog Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences
Songbirds are present all around us in our daily lives, but did you know that besides their beautiful song each morning they can also teach us something about neuroplasticity? My name is Jasmien Orije, and during my PhD at the Bio-Imaging Lab, under supervision of Professors Annemie Van Der Linden and Marleen Verhoye, I had the opportunity to work with this remarkable animal model for neuroplasticity.
During her PhD research in Biomedical Sciences, Emilie Logie aimed to find new treatment options to overcome therapy resistance in the blood cancer multiple myeloma. Together with Professor Wim Vanden Berghe, her supervisor at the Proteinchemistry, Proteomics and Epigenetic Signalling (PPES) lab, Emilie used and combined different molecular techniques to identify new ways for treating therapy-resistant multiple myeloma cancers.
Bahaa Shaqour is a PhD student from Palestine and he is working with Prof. Paul Cos at the Laboratory for Microbiology, Parasitology and Hygiene (LMPH). He is exploring the capabilities of 3D printing technologies to produce novel medication delivery systems. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a method of creating a three dimensional object layer-by-layer using a computer generated design.
Bethan Burnside recently started her PhD in Biomedical Sciences with Professor Frank Kooy in the Cognitive Genetics Lab at the UAntwerp Center of Medical Genetics. She aims to explore the epigenetics of ADHD in adult women. Until recently, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was thought of as a neurodevelopmental condition that occurs in young boys. In fact, even Bethan believed this to be the case – until she was diagnosed with ADHD herself at the age of 25! Unfortunately, due to these misconceptions, ADHD in girls and women is often diagnosed too late or misdiagnosed as something else.
New research findings by Prof. Vincent Timmerman’s group has revealed common hallmarks in motor neurons of patients with different subtypes of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) type 2, including impaired axonal transport and mitochondrial dysfunction. Targeting these underlying disease mechanisms could pave the way for treatments that can help a larger group of CMT patients.
Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological disorders, affecting more than 65 million people worldwide. I’m Dr. Daniele Bertoglio and I recently obtained my second PhD at UAntwerp under supervision of Prof. Annemie Van Der Linden, head of the Bio-Imaging Lab. During my PhD I used various imaging techniques to gain a better understanding of epilepsy, a neurological disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures.
I’m Astrid Van den Branden and I’m doing the Master of Biomedical Sciences at UAntwerp. I am enrolled in the UAntwerp Honours College program. I had the opportunity to participate in this prestigious program after my first Bachelor year.
I’m Jasper Van Goubergen and I’m a PhD student at the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria. I graduated from UAntwerp with a Master in Biochemistry and Biotechnology. I had the opportunity to do a voluntary research internship at the UAntwerp Center for Oncological Research (CORE). This was an excellent opportunity for me to learn new skills in a state-of-the-art lab. I’d like to share with you what I learnt and why I think it’s useful to do research internships.
I’m Deborah Walter and I come from Südtirol, Italy. After completing a double Bachelor degree in Biochemistry in Austria and the Czech Republic, I decided to come to UAntwerp to do the Master in Biomedical science, with a focus on Neuroscience. I had just been at UAntwerp for one semester before everything was locked down due to COVID-19.
Hi, my name is Nathalie Verzele and I’m a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland in Australia. My PhD topic is “The neuromodulation of inflammation in pulmonary infections” in the virology lab of the “Flu Fighter”, Dr. Kirsty Short in collaboration with Dr. Alice McGovern. How did I get here, you ask? Let me tell you, it was a long road with many ups and downs.
New research from Prof. Vincent Timmerman’s lab, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Oxford, has elucidated the structural changes caused by a mutation in the molecular chaperone Hsp27 (HSPB1). Chaperones are a group of proteins that have functional similarity and assist in protein folding. This work not only sheds light on an important disease-causing mutation, it also reveals an important mechanism by which this chaperone functions.
Hi, my name is Christina Christia. I studied chemistry at the Aristotle’s University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) in Greece, where I obtained my Master’s degree in Environmental Chemistry. I am currently a PhD student at the UAntwerp Toxicological Center, under supervision of Prof. Adrian Covaci. My PhD project is focused on characterising the occurrence, metabolism and contribution to human exposure of new chemical compounds present in the indoor environment.