Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL-Bruxelles)
Programm of Seminars and Conferences of
the Louvain Drug Research Institute and of the doctoral school in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences
Academic year 2016-2017

Perrin Ngougni Pokem
Pharmacologie cellulaire et moléculaire, LDRI

Samantha Scheinok
(REMA (LDRI) and MOST(IMCN)

Pr. Raylene A. Reimer
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada

Manipulating gut microbiota across the lifespan: impact on chronic disease

related publications

• Paul et al. Diet-induced changes in maternal gut microbiota and metabolomic profiles influence programming of offspring obesity risk in rats.
  Sci Rep. 2016;6:20683.
• Hume et al. Prebiotic supplementation improves appetite control in children with overweight and obesity: a randomized controlled tria. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017 Apr;105(4):790-799
• Nettleton et al. Reshaping the gut microbiota: Impact of low calorie sweeteners and the link to insulin resistance? Physiol Behav. 2016 Oct 1;164(Pt B):488-93.
  

info : N. Delzenne 02.764.73.67 <nathalie.delzenne@uclouvain.be>

Owein Guillemot-Legris
Bioanalysis and Pharmacology of Bioactive Lipids, LDRI

Central nervous system neuroinflammation in the context of obesity: implications of bioactive lipids and pathophysiological repercussions

related publications:

• Guillemot-Legris O*, Mutemberezi V.*, et al. Obesity is associated with changes in oxysterol metabolism and levels in mice liver, hypothalamus, adipose tissue and plasma. Sci Rep. 2016, 6:19694.
• Guillemot-Legris O et al., High-fat diet feeding differentially affects the development of inflammation in the central nervous system. J Neuroinflammation. 2016, 13(1):206
• Guillemot-Legris O et al., Oxysterols in Metabolic Syndrome: From Bystander Molecules to Bioactive Lipids. Trends Mol Med. 2016, 22(7):594-614
• Guillemot-Legris O et al., Obesity-Induced Neuroinflammation: Beyond the Hypothalamus. Trends Neurosci. 2017, 40(4):237-253
  

Promotor : G. Muccioli 02.764.72.31 <giulio.muccioli@uclouvain.be>

Emilie Catry
Metabolism and Nutrition, LDRI, UCL

Role of the gut microbiota in the control of cardio-metabolic risk.

related publications:

• Catry et al. Targeting the gut microbiota with inulin-type fructans: preclinical demonstration of a novel approach in the management of endothelial dysfunction. Gut. 2017 Apr 4. pii: gutjnl-2016-313316. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-313316.
• Catry et al. Nutritional depletion in n-3 PUFA in apoE knock-out mice: A new model of endothelial dysfunction associated with fatty liver disease. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2016 Oct;60(10):2198-2207.
• Catry et al. Ezetimibe and simvastatin modulate gut microbiota and expression of genes related to cholesterol metabolism. Life Sci. 2015 Jul 1;132:77-84.
  

Promotor : N. Delzenne 02.764.73.67<nathalie.delzenne@uclouvain.be>

Laure Lambricht
Advanced Drug Delivery and Biomaterials, LDRI, UCL

Plasmids encoding viral structural proteins to enhance cancer DNA vaccine potency

related publications:

• Lambricht et al. Co-administration of a plasmid encoding HIV-1 Gag enhances the efficacy of cancer DNA vaccines. Molecular Therapy, 2016, 24(9), 1686-9
• Lambricht et al. Clinical potential of electroporation for gene therapy and DNA vaccine delivery. Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, 2016, 13(2), 295-310
• Lambricht et al. Polymer-based nanoparticles as modern vaccine delivery systems Micro and nanotechnologies for vaccine development, Skwarczynski M. and Toth I., Elsevier, Oxford, 2017, 185-200
  
  

Promotor : V. Preat.02.764.73.09 <veronique.preat@uclouvain.be>

Géraldine Dessily
Louvain Louvain Centre for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, IREC

Impact des polymorphismes génétiques de la P-glycoprotéine sur le transport des immunosuppresseurs et des inhibiteurs de tyrosine kinase

related publications:

• Dessily et al, ABCB1 1199G>A genetic polymorphism (Rs2229109) influences the intracellular accumulation of tacrolimus in HEK293 and K562 recombinant cell lines. PLoS One. 2014;9(3):e91555
• Dessily et al, ABCB1 1199G>A polymorphism (rs2229109) affects the transport of imatinib, nilotinib and dasatinib. Pharmacogenomics. 2016;17(8):883-90
• Dessily et al, Impact of ABCB1 1236C?>?T-2677G?>?T-3435C?>?T polymorphisms on the anti-proliferative activity of imatinib, nilotinib, dasatinib and ponatinib. Sci Rep. 2016;6:29559
  

Promotors : V. Haufroid and J.B Demoulin; <vincent.haufroid@uclouvain.be>

Dr. Pierre Danhier
Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Research Group, Louvain Drug Research Institute

Monitoring HIF-1 activity in tumor cells to block breast cancer metastasis

related publications

• Danhier et al. Combining Optical Reporter Proteins with Different Half-lives to Detect Temporal Evolution of Hypoxia and Reoxygenation in Tumors. Neoplasia (2015) 17: 871-881.
• Danhier et al. In vivo visualization and ex vivo quantification of murine breast cancer cells in the mouse brain using MRI cell tracking and electron paramagnetic resonance. NMR Biomed (2015) 28: 367-375
  

info : B. Jordan 02.764.73.64 <Benedicte.jordan@uclouvain.be>

Dr. Séverine Henrard
Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI)/Clinical Pharmacy (CLIP); Institute of Health and Society (IRSS)

Relevance of registry-based cohort studies in pharmacoepidemiological research: the case of the Intego database.

info : F. Van Bambeke 02.764.73.78 <francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be>

Dr. Jean Ruelle
Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique, UCL

Functional cure of HIV infection : the HIV-2 model

related publications

• Ruelle et al., Validation of an ultrasensitive digital droplet PCR assay for HIV-2 plasma RNA quantification. J Int AIDS Soc. 201417(4 Suppl 3):19675.
• Charpentier et al. HIV-2EU-Supporting Standardized HIV-2 Drug-Resistance Interpretation in Europe: An Update. Clin Infect Dis. 2015 ;61(8):1346-7

info : F. Van Bambeke 02.764.73.78 <francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be>

Dr. Sophie Leclercq
Institut of Neurosciences, UCL

Early life antibiotic exposure induce long-term changes in gut microbiota, brain inflammation and behavior

info : F. Van Bambeke 02.764.73.78 <francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be>

Dr Cyril Corbet
Pole of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (FATH); IREC

Acidic tumor microenvironment and cancer cell metabolism

related publications:

• Corbet et al. Acidosis Drives the Reprogramming of Fatty Acid Metabolism in Cancer Cells through Changes in Mitochondrial and Histone Acetylation. Cell Metab. 2016;24(2):311-23
• Corbet et al. The SIRT1/HIF2? axis drives reductive glutamine metabolism under chronic acidosis and alters tumor response to therapy. Cancer Res. 2014;74(19):5507-19
  

Valentin Mutemberezi
Bioanalysis and Pharmacology of Bioactive Lipids, LDRI

Setting up of quantification methods for oxysterols and their metabolites: Towards a better understanding of their role in inflammation

related publications:

• Mutemberezi et al. Development and validation of an HPLC-MS method for the simultaneous quantification of key oxysterols, endocannabinoids, and ceramides: variations in metabolic syndrome. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2016, 408:733-45.
• Guillemot-Legris*, Mutemberezi*, et al. Obesity is associated with changes in oxysterol metabolism and levels in mice liver, hypothalamus, adipose tissue and plasma. Sci Rep. 2016, 6:19694.
• Mutemberezi V. et al. Oxysterols: From cholesterol metabolites to key mediators. Prog Lipid Res. 2016, 64:152–169.
  

Promotor : G. Muccioli <giulio.muccioli@uclouvain.be>

Dr Oscar Bautista
work performed at Laboratorio de Química Médica, Madrid, Spain; currently post-doc at CMFA/LDRI

Design, synthesis and pharmacological evaluation, of novels donepezil-indolyl and donepezil-pyridyl hybrids as multipotent cholinesterase/monoamine oxidase inhibitors for the potential treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

related publications:

• Bautista-Aguilera et al, N-Methyl-N-((1-methyl-5-(3-(1-(2-methylbenzyl)piperidin-4-yl)propoxy)-1H-indol-2-yl)methyl)prop-2-yn-1-amine, a New Cholinesterase and Monoamine oxidase Dual Inhibitor, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2014, 57, 10455-10463.
• Bautista-Aguilera et al, Design, synthesis, pharmacological evaluation, QSAR analysis, molecular modeling and ADMET of novel donepezil-indolyl hybrids as multipotent cholinesterase/monoamine oxidase inhibitors for the potential treatment of Alzheimer's disease. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2014, 75, 82-95.
  

Prof. Jean-Baptiste Demoulin
De Duve Institute, UCL

PDGF receptor mutations in human diseases: Ideal targets for personalized medicine ?

related publications

• Arts et al. PDGFRB mutants found in patients with familial infantile myofibromatosis or overgrowth syndrome are oncogenic and sensitive to imatinib. Oncogene. 2016; 35(25):3239-48.
• Arts et al. Idiopathic basal ganglia calcification-associated PDGFRB mutations impair the receptor signalling. J Cell Mol Med. 2015;19(1):239-48.
• Velghe et al. PDGFRA alterations in cancer: characterization of a gain-of-function V536E transmembrane mutant as well as loss-of-function and passenger mutations. Oncogene. 2014; 33(20):2568-76.
  

Prof. Kristin Verbeke
Translational Research in GastroIntestinal Disorders, KULeuven

Short Chain Fatty Acids as mediators between the diet, the microbiota and the host

related publication

• Boets et al. Systemic availability and metabolism of colonic-derived short-chain fatty acids in healthy subjects: a stable isotope study. J Physiol. 2016 Aug 11. doi: 10.1113/JP272613
  

info: L. Bindels 02.764.73.37 <laure.bindels@uclouvain.be>

Prof. Mireille Demoulin
Centre for Protein Engineering, Ulg

Mechanism of aggregation of polyglutamine proteins that are associated with neurodegenerative amyloidoses

info: R. Vanbever 02.764.73.25 <rita.vanbever@uclouvain.be>

Sandrine Verstraeten
Pharmacologie cellulaire et moléculaire, LDRI and Cellular Biology, DDUV

Prof. William Couet
Inserm U-1070 Pharmacologie des Anti-Infectieux, Université de Poitiers, France

Biopharmaceutical classification of antimicrobial agents

info : F. Van Bambeke 02.764.73.78 <francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be>

Marie-Aline Neveu
Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, LDRI, UCL

Multi-modality imaging to assess metabolic shift in tumors

related publications:

• Neveu et al, The increase in tumor oxygenation under carbogen breathing induces a decrease in the uptake of [18F]-Fluoro-deoxy-glucose. Radiother Oncol, 2015;116(3):400-403
• Neveu MA et al, Multi-modality imaging identifies distinct metabolic profiles in vitro and in vivo. Neoplasia. 2016; 18: 742-752
• Neveu MA et al, Multi-modality imaging to assess metabolic response to dichloroacetate treatment in tumor models. Oncotarget, 2016 In Press
  
  

Promotors : B. Gallez 02.764.73.91 <bernard.gallez@uclouvain.be> & O. Feron

Prof. Christian Giske
Karolinska Institutet, Infectious Diseases Unit, Stockholm, Sweden

Next-generation sequencing for tracking of epidemic clones of extensively drug-resistant Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae

related publication

• Tängdén T, Giske CG. Global dissemination of extensively drug-resistant carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae: clinical perspectives on detection, treatment and infection control.J Intern Med. 2015 ;277(5):501-12.

info : F. Van Bambeke 02.764.73.78 <francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be>

Hussein Chalhoub
Pharmacologie cellulaire et moléculaire, LDRI, UCL

Impact of efflux mechanisms on susceptibility and resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: beyond the usual concepts

related publications:

• Chalhoub et al, Avibactam confers susceptibility to a large proportion of ceftazidime-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates recovered from cystic fibrosis patients. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2015;70:1596-8.
• Mustafa, Chalhoub et al, Antimicrobial susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from cystic fibrosis patients through Northern Europe. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2016; 60:6735–41.
• Chalhoub et al, High-level resistance to meropenem in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the absence of carbapenemases: role of active efflux and porin alterations. Intern. J. Antimicrob. Ag., in press
• Chalhoub et al, Mechanisms of intrinsic resistance and acquired susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from cystic fibrosis patients to temocillin, a revived antibiotic. Nature Sci. Reports. in press
  

Promotor : F. Van Bambeke 02.764.73.78 <francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be>

Muhammad Hariri Mustafa
Pharmacologie cellulaire et moléculaire, LDRI, UCL

Development of new antibiotic combinations to be administered as dry powder for inhalation to patients with cystic fibrosis: microbiological, pharmacological and pharmaceutical studies

related publications:

• Mustafa, Chalhoub et al, Antimicrobial susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from cystic fibrosis patients through Northern Europe. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2016; 60:6735–41.
• Mustafa et al, Acquired resistance to macrolides in Pseudomonas aeruginosa from cystic fibrosis patients. Eur. Respir. J. in revision
  

Promotor : F. Van Bambeke 02.764.73.78 <francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be> and F. Vanderbist

Dr. Sergei V. Strelkov,
Laboratory for Biocrystallography Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, KULeuven

Structural biology of small heat shock proteins

• Sluchanko et al. Structural basis for the interaction of a human small heat shock protein with the 14-3-3 universal signaling regulator. Structure 2017; 25, 1-11.
• Chernyatina et al. Intermediate filament structure: the bottom-up approach, Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 2015; 32C, 65-72.
• Christ et al. Rational design of small-molecule inhibitors of the LEDGF/p75-integrase interaction and HIV replication, Nature Chemical Biology, 2010; 6, 442-448.
  

info : R. Frederick 02.764.73.41 <raphael.frederick@uclouvain.be>

Dr Lisa White,
School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Processing effects upon biologic scaffold structure and function

info : A. des Rieux 02.764.73.57 <anne.desrieux@uclouvain.be>

Dr Thibaut Helleputte,
DNAlytics, Louvain La Neuve

Data-driven precision medicine: case studies

info : P. Cani 02.764.73.97 <patrice.cani@uclouvain.be>

Jules Bayiha
TFAR-FACM, LDRI

Dr Louise Deldicque,
Institute of Neuroscience,LDRI

Regulation of skeletal muscle mass by environmental hypoxia

• D’Hulst et al, Effect of acute environmental hypoxia on protein metabolism in human skeletal muscle, Acta Physiol 2013.
• Masschelein et al, Acute environmental hypoxia induces LC3 lipidation in a genotype-dependent manner, The FASEB J 2013.
• D’Hulst et al, Fifteen days of 3,200 m simulated hypoxia marginally regulates markers for protein synthesis and degradation in human skeletal muscle, Hypoxia 2016.
  

info : L. Bindels 02.764.73.37 <laure.bindels@uclouvain.be>

Pr François Noël,
Molecular and Biochemical Pharmacology; Institute of Biomedical Sciences; Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Discovery of an atypical antipsychotic: a multi-target approach

info : E. Hermans 02.764.93.39 <emmanuel.hermans@uclouvain.be>

Stefanie Thevelin
TFAR-CLIP, LDRI

prof. Jean-Paul Thissen
Pôle Endocrinologie, Diabétologie et Nutrition
Institut de Recherches Expérimentales et Cliniques

Myostatin & Activin...New players in the regulation of skeletal muscle mass

related publications

• Schakman et al. Glucocorticoid-induced skeletal muscle atrophy. International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. 45:2163-2172, 2013.
• Barbé et al. Role of IGF-I in the Follistatin-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 5;309(6):E557-67, 2015.
• Loumaye et al. Role of Activin A and Myostatin in human cancer cachexia. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 100:2030-8, 2015.

info : L. Bindels 02.764.73.37 <laure.bindels@uclouvain.be>

Stefania Acciardo
(Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Research group (REMA), LDRI

Dr Isabel Spriet
Research Center for Clinical Pharmacy, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven

Antibiotic optimization in critically ill and surgical patients - covariate based dosing

related publications

• Oyaert et al. Factors impacting unbound vancomycin concentrations in different patient populations. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015 Nov;59(11):7073-9.
• Póvoa et al. Antibiotic dosing in the critically ill: asking the same questions but expecting different answers. Intensive Care Med. 2014 Nov;40(11):1780-2

info : F. Van Bambeke 02.764.73.78 ; <francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be>

Ahalieyah Anantharajah
Pharmacologie cellulaire et moléculaire, LDRI, UCL

Contribution to the understanding of Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence in search of innovative therapeutic approaches

related publications:

• Anantharajah et al. Correlation between cytotoxicity induced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates from acute infections and IL-1-beta secretion in a model of human THP-1 monocytes. FEMS Pathogens and Disease (2015) 73:ftv049.
• Anantharajah et al. Inhibition of the injectisome and flagellar type III secretion systems by INP1855 impairs Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathogenicity and inflammasome activation. Journal of Infectious Diseases (2016) 214:1105-1116
• Anantharajah et al. Targeting Type Three Secretion System in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences (2016) 37:734-749
  

Promotors : F. Van Bambeke and M.P. Mingeot-Leclercq ; <francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be>

Eleonora Scarcello
Louvain Centre for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (LTAP), IREC