Seminars and thesis defences

Marine ANCIA – CMFA

Targeting Telomere Dynamics: Disrupting a Protein Interaction and Investigating Lipid Metabolism for Anticancer Therapy

Promotor : Prof. Raphaël Frédérick
Co-promotor: Prof. Anabelle Decottignies

Related publication :
Marine Ancia, Khadija Wahni, Joudy Chakrowf, Asia El Aakchioui, Eloïse Claude, Guillaume de Lhoneux, Maxime Liberelle, Steven Janvier, Ekaterina Baranova, Julia Malo Pueyo, Ariana Jijon Vergara, Nicolas Papadopoulos, Clémence Balty, Jérôme Dejeu, Anabelle Decottignies, Joris Messens, Raphaël Frédérick. Structural insights into the interaction between testis-specific Y-encoded-like protein 5 and ubiquitin-specific protease 7. Protein Sci. 2025 May;34(5):e70116. doi: 10.1002/pro.70116.

Info: raphael.frederick@uclouvain.be

Dr Chloé TEZENAS du MONTCEL - MD PhD, Postdoctoral researcher MNUT, LDRI, UCLouvain

LEAP-2 : a new key player in the metabo-cognitive interplay in eating disorders

Related publications:

• Tezenas du Montcel C, Duriez P, Cao J, Lebrun N, Ramoz N, Viltart O et al. The role of dysregulated ghrelin/LEAP-2 balance in anorexia nervosa. iScience 2023;107996.
• Tezenas du Montcel C, Cao J, Mattioni J, Hamelin H, Lebrun N, Ramoz N et al. Chronic food restriction in mice and increased systemic ghrelin induce preference for running wheel activity. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2023; 155: 106311.
• Tezenas du Montcel C, Hamelin H, Viltart O, Tolle V. Ghrelin/LEAP-2 balance correlates with enhanced cognitive impulsivity during refeeding after chronic food restriction: from a preclinical study in a female mice to outcome prediction after weight restoration in anorexia nervosa (submitted)

Info: amandine.everard@uclouvain.be

Auditoire de Visscher (Building 74)

Trisha GREVENGOED 
University of Copenhagen - Department of Biomedical Sciences Endocrinology and Metabolism – Denmark

Fatty acid-derived mediators in cardiometabolic disease

Related publications:

• Grevengoed, T. J.; Trammell, S. A.; Svenningsen, J. S.; Makarov, M. V.; Nielsen, T. S.; Jacobsen, J. C. B.; Treebak, J. T.; Calder, P. C.; Migaud, M. E.; Cravatt, B. F.; et al. An abundant biliary metabolite derived from dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids regulates triglycerides. J Clin Invest 2021, 131 (6). DOI: 10.1172/JCI143861 
• Grevengoed, T. J.; Trammell, S. A. J.; McKinney, M. K.; Petersen, N.; Cardone, R. L.; Svenningsen, J. S.; Ogasawara, D.; Nexoe-Larsen, C. C.; Knop, F. K.; Schwartz, T. W.; et al. N-acyl taurines are endogenous lipid messengers that improve glucose homeostasis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019, 116 (49), 24770-24778. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1916288116 
• Trammell, S. A. J.; Gamon, L. F.; Gotfryd, K.; Michler, K. T.; Alrehaili, B. D.; Rix, I.; Knop, F. K.; Gourdon, P.; Lee, Y. K.; Davies, M. J.; et al. Identification of bile acid-CoA:amino acid N-acyltransferase as the hepatic N-acyl taurine synthase for polyunsaturated fatty acids. J Lipid Res 2023, 64 (9), 100361. DOI: 10.1016/j.jlr.2023.100361

Corinne LIONNE 
Centre de Biologie Structurale - CBS
UMR5048 CNRS – U1054 INSERM – Université de Montpellier, France

NAD kinases, new targets for antibiotic and anticancer treatments

Related publications:

• Mary, C.; Soflaee, M. H.; Kesavan, R.; Gelin, M.; Brown, H.; Zacharias, G.; Mathews, T. P.; Lemoff, A.; Lionne, C.; Labesse, G.; et al. Crystal structure of human NADK2 reveals a dimeric organization and active site occlusion by lysine acetylation. Mol Cell 2022, 82 (17), 3299-3311 e3298. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2022.06.026 
• Praharaj, P. P.; Li, Y.; Mary, C.; Soflaee, M. H.; Ryu, K.; Kim, D.; Tran, D. H.; Dey, T.; Tom, H. J.; Rion, H.; et al. Cryo-EM structure and regulation of human NAD kinase. Sci Adv 2025, 11 (4), eads2664. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ads2664 
• Rahimova, R.; Nogaret, P.; Huteau, V.; Gelin, M.; Clement, D. A.; Labesse, G.; Pochet, S.; Blanc-Potard, A. B.; Lionne, C. Structure-based design, synthesis and biological evaluation of a NAD(+) analogue targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa NAD kinase. FEBS J 2023, 290 (2), 482-501. DOI: 10.1111/febs.16604
  
   

Prof. Nicolas LANTHIER - Pôle d'Hépato-gastro-entérologie (GAEN), UCLouvain & Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc

Metabolic steatohepatitis, gut microbiota and skeletal muscle changes: three pieces of the same risky puzzle? From results to new projects

Related publications:

• Lanthier, N. et al. Microbiota analysis and transient elastography reveal new extra-hepatic components of liver steatosis and fibrosis in obese patients. Nature 659 (2021). doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-79718-9
• Henin, G. et al. Myosteatosis: Diagnosis, pathophysiology and consequences in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. JHEP REP 2023 Nov 14;6(2):100963. doi: 10.1016/j.jhepr.2023.100963
• Henin, G., Lanthier N. What references and what gold standard should be used to assess myosteatosis in chronic liver disease? J Hepato, 2024 Dec;81(6):e273-e274. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2024.07.003 
• Harrison SA et al. A Randomized Controlled Phase 3 Trial of Resmetirom in NASH with Liver Fibrosis. New England Journal of Medicine, 2024, 390/6, pages 497-509. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2309000
• Guillaume Henin et al. Unlocking liver health: Can tackling myosteatosis spark remission in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease? Liver Int. 2024 Aug;44(8):1781-1796. doi: 10.1111/liv.15938

Info: laure.bindels@uclouvain.be

 

Prof. Philip GORWOOD - MD, PhD, Professor of psychiatry, head of the CMME department (hospital Sainte-Anne, Paris), co-head of an INSERM research team at the Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris

A journey to the heart of anorexia nervosa

Related publications:

• Verebi C, Lebrun N, Petit JV, Viltart O, Duriez P, Saint-Pierre B, Gorwood P, Ramoz N, Bienvenu T. Potential New Expression Biomarkers for Anorexia Nervosa. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2024 Dec 11:e33018. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.b.33018. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39660767.
• Cao J, Gorwood P, Ramoz N, Viltart O. The Role of Central and Peripheral Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) as a Biomarker of Anorexia Nervosa Reconceptualized as a Metabo-Psychiatric Disorder. Nutrients. 2024 Aug 8;16(16):2617. doi: 10.3390/nu16162617. PMID: 39203753; PMCID: PMC11357464.
• Duriez P, Tolle V, Ramoz N, Kimmel E, Charron S, Viltart O, Lebrun N, Bienvenu T, Fadigas M, Oppenheim C, Gorwood P. Assessing biomarkers of remission in female patients with anorexia nervosa (REMANO): a protocol for a prospective cohort study with a nested case-control study using clinical, neurocognitive, biological, genetic, epigenetic and neuroimaging markers in a French specialised inpatient unit. BMJ Open. 2024 Jun 25;14(6):e077260. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077260. PMID: 38925688; PMCID: PMC11208877.
• Di Lodovico L, Hanachi M, Duriez P, Gorwood P. The Fitter I Am, the Larger I Feel-The Vicious Circle of Physical Exercise in Anorexia Nervosa. Nutrients. 2022 Oct 26;14(21):4507. doi: 10.3390/nu14214507. PMID: 36364769; PMCID: PMC9657677.

Info: amandine.everard@uclouvain.be

 

Madeline EL ASSAL – REMA
AI-Driven Analysis of Multiparametric MRI for Evaluating Response to Targeted and Immune Therapies in Preclinical Melanoma Models

Myriam LUZALA MUKANDE – TFAR FACM
Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Congolese plant extracts for the treatment of intracellular bacterial infections

Info: mireille.alhouayek@uclouvain.be
 

Barbara LUYENS – MNUT
Gut-Brain Axis in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Investigating the effect of Pycnogenol® on Gut Microbiota and Cognitive Function in children with ADHD

Manon de MONTIGNY –  Centre académique de médecine générale - IRSS and TFAR CLIP
The rate of adoption of pharmaceutical recommendations by patients in primary care following a pharmacist medication review: preliminary results and study protocol

Info: mireille.alhouayek@uclouvain.be
 

Gwenaëlle MAHIEU - LDRI / TFAR FACM and PMGK

An integrated pharmacokinetic, pharmacogenomic and pharmacodynamic study of fluoroquinolones in the context of intracellular infections

Promotor: Prof Françoise Van Bambeke – Co-Promotor: Prof Laure Elens

Related publications: 

• Mahieu, G., Elens, L., Prebonnaud, N., Chauzy, A., & Van Bambeke, F. (2025). A hollow fiber infection model to study intracellular and extracellular antibiotic activity against Staphylococcus aureus. iScience, 28(3), 112076. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112076
• Mahieu, G., Haufroid, V., Van Bambeke, F., & Elens, L. (2025). In vitro assessment of ATP-binding cassette transporters and their functional genetic polymorphisms on fluoroquinolone accumulation in human embryonic kidney 293 recombinant cell lines. Drug Metabolism and Disposition, 100063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dmd.2025.100063
• Mahieu, G., Sennesael, A.-L., Pochet, L., Haufroid, V., Van Bambeke, F., Spinewine, A., & Elens, L. (2024). In vitro assessment of the risk of ABCB1-mediated drug–drug interaction between rivaroxaban and tacrolimus in human embryonic kidney 293 recombinant cell lines. Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 8(5), 102521. (Collaborative work). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rpth.2024.102521 

Info: françoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be


 

Prof. Alexia CHAUZY - UFR Médecine-Pharmacie, INSERM U1070, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France

Optimization of treatment of healthcare-associated Central nervous System infections due to Staphylococcus spp by pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic approaches: the example of linezolid

Related publication:
Prébonnaud et al,  A freely accessible, adaptable hollow-fiber setup to reproduce first-order absorption: illustration with linezolid cerebrospinal fluid pharmacokinetic data
BioRxiv- doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629487

Info: francoise.vanbambeke@uclouvain.be