Leverfibrose snel opsporen via het bloed (film)
3R concept in liver research: Reduce-Refine-Replace
Leverziekte genezen met minilevers (film)
Objectives
In general, research projects at LIVR aim to better characterize the different liver cell types in healthy and pathological conditions, and to gain a better insight in the mechanisms of liver regeneration and the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis.
The LIVR team investigates:
- the mechanisms of liver fibrosis development and resolution
- the identification of hepatic stellate cell-specific biomarkers for liver fibrosis staging
- the generation of in vitro liver disease models
- iPSC derived liver cells for in vitro disease modeling
- the role for liver progenitor cells during liver regeneration
Long term objectives are:
- Contribute to the understanding of mechanisms involved in liver fibrosis
- Discover therapeutic targets for chronic liver diseases including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
- Develop in vitro models representative for human chronic liver disease
Events
EASL Liver Cancer Summit 2023 Practical info-EASL 2023 Symposium Practical info-Belgian Week of Gastroenterology 2023 Practical info-
DeLIVERy research network
LIVR is partner in DeLIVERy, a project funded by the European Union’s European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder Open programme that aims to build a radically new technology for personalized health care, which provides, for the first time, the possibility to investigate polypharmacy on individual patients.
(Term: May 2022-April 2026)
News
Co-publication in Science
Hippo signaling instructs ectopic but not normal organ growth. W Kowalczyk, L Romanelli, M Atkins, H Hillen, C Bravo González-Blas, J Jacobs, J Xie, S Soheily, E Verboven I M Moya, S Verhulst, M de Waegeneer, L Sansores-Garcia, L van Huffel, R L Johnson, L A van Grunsven, S Aerts, G Halder.Publication in Biomaterials
Modelling fatty liver disease with mouse liver-derived multicellular spheroids van Os EA, Cools L, Eysackers N, Szafranska K, Smout A, Verhulst S, Reynaert H, McCourt P, Mannaerts I, van Grunsven LA. Biomaterials. 2022 Nov;290:121817. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2022.121817. Epub 2022 Sep 28.IC-3Rs Symposium 2022: First place for LIVR members Mina Kazemzadeh & Laura Cools in video contest
MORE SCIENCE, MORE CARE, LESS ANIMALSPublication in Frontiers of Medicine
Improved Precision-Cut Liver Slice Cultures for Testing Drug-Induced Liver Fibrosis Liza Dewyse, Vincent De Smet, Stefaan Verhulst, Nathalie Eysackers, Rastislav Kunda, Nouredin Messaoudi, Hendrik Reynaert and Leo A. van Grunsven. doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.862185. Front. Med., 30 March 2022Prestigious 4-year postdoctoral fellowship by the "Stichting Tegen Kanker" (Foundation against Cancer) for LIVR member Inge Mannaerts
VUB scientists Inge Mannaerts and Sofie Deschoemaeker have been awarded a prestigious four-year postdoctoral fellowship by the Stichting Tegen Kanker. Mannaerts received it for her research on tumours in the liver, and Deschoemaeker for her research on better treatment of breast cancer. One of their
Research
The LIVR laboratory offers Flow Cytometry Service, using a BD FACSAria cell sorter (1st generation, upgraded to FacsAria IIu in 2014). The system has 3 lasers for excitation: UV laser (355nm), Blue laser (488nm) and Red laser (633nm) and 11 fluorescence detectors. We offer support for the experimental setup, operation of the system and analysis of data using FlowJo software (Stefaan.Verhulst@vub.be)
