Membrane proteins such as ion channels, transporters or G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are excellent but difficult drug targets involved in a large number of life-threatening diseases and conditions. These proteins, over-expressed and essential for disease onset and progression, are naturally targeted by toxins from venomous organisms. During evolution, these toxins have been optimized to efficiently […]

Proteins can exist in two forms: left-handed (L) or right-handed (D); however, for indeterminate reasons life on this planet only uses the L-form. When studied in more detail, both protein forms possess identical physiochemical and biological properties. Yet, D-proteins show minimal proteolytic degradation and fail to elicit immune responses in animals, due to their unnatural […]

The complement system is an essential component of innate immunity, but also causes self-damage when the system is aberrantly activated or self-protective capacity is exceeded. There are many conditions where failure to protect against self-damage from the complement system has been implicated in the pathology, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, paroxysmal nocturnal […]

Neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression and anxiety, represent prevalent and disabling medical conditions affecting society. Despite the urgent need for novel pharmacotherapeutics to treat these conditions, there are few new drugs in development by the pharmaceutical industry. Cannabis has been used by humans for thousands of years to self-medicate a range of different neuropsychiatric symptoms, although […]

Red blood cells are stored in blood collection centres for blood transfusion; however, some of red blood cells are discarded due to the poor quality after storage for a period of time because the poor quality of the red blood cells will cause health problems in individuals after transfusion. In this project, we are going […]

The development of effective immunotherapies, vaccines and immunomodulatory drugs are the main success stories from the last years in drugs development for cancer, infectious diseases and chronic disorders. We are developing a simple and robust new platform to evaluate the next generation of immunotherapeutics treatments at pre-clinical stage. This platform is called Immune Complex Phagocytic […]

Pulmonary arterial Hypertension (PAH) is a severe disease that affects both the pulmonary vasculature and the heart with no curative options. The apelinergic system which can be defined by the cell surface receptor APJ, mostly expressed in the heart and vessels, and its endogenous ligands Apelin and ELABELA appear as a promising therapeutic pathway in […]

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) is a common form of leukemia that affects approximately 3 people per 100,000 individuals, and is the most common form of cancer in children and adolescents. Current therapies are effective in children, however, treatment success in infants, adolescents, and adults needs improvement. Indeed, there is a need for new chemotherapeutic drugs […]

This project will refine an existent technology developed by us for freeze-drying biological and medical solutions to produce powders. Freeze-dried bio-medical powders are used in pharmaceuticals as well as for food. The technology we will refine in this project is called atmospheric spray freeze drying (ASFD) and has the potential to be faster and more […]

There has been an increased use of freeze-drying in the pharmaceutical industry over the past few decades. This step converts a liquid product into a solid one without compromising its integrity, thus prolonging its shelf life. The monitoring and optimization of this process is commonly done by trial-and-error, leading to product quality control issues. Therefore, […]