Kris Vleminckx
Developmental Biology
VIB Department for Molecular Biomedical Research, UGent

PhD: Univ. of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium, '93 Postdoc: Sloan-Kettering Inst., NY, USA, '93-'97 Postdoc: Max-Planck Inst. of Immunobiology, Freiburg, Germany, '98-'99 VIB Group leader since 2001

e-mail phone +32 9 331 37 20 ADDRESS

Current team members
Group leader: Kris Vleminckx
Postdoctoral scientists: Ellen Crabbe, Hong Thi Tran
Ph.D. Students: Mathias Fransen, Sylvie Janssens
Support personnel: Griet Van Imschoot

Keywords
vertebrate development - morpholino-mediated know how - fluorescent proteins - Xenopus - transgenesis

Science

Many genes that are causally linked to the initiation and progression of cancer play fundamental roles in development. Moreover, cell biological processes disturbed in tumor cells (e.g. proliferation, apoptosis and migration) are also involved in normal morphogenetic processes in the embryo. Our research group is using the model organism Xenopus to investigate such genes and processes during vertebrate development.

Our research focuses on Wnt signalling and cadherin-mediated cell adhesion. We aim at studying different cell types in their natural environment. Hence we are exploiting GFP technology for in vivo labelling and in real time imaging of specific cell populations.  Several transgenic lines have been generated permitting the in vivo detection of Wnt signalling, cell motility/polarity and cell death. These are used to study the function of cadherins, catenins and Wnt signalling in tissue formation and organogenesis.

We have a special emphasis on the role of the canonical Wnt pathway in cellular differentiation and organogenesis. We have developed an experimental platform, incorporating bioinformatics, for the identification of novel organ-specific and primary Wnt target genes that are relevant for stem cell biology and cancer.

Finally, we are generating frogs expressing fluorescent proteins under the control of regulatory DNA sequences that are activated under conditions resembling human pathologies (e.g. oncogene activation). These will be used for compound screens.

Sekkali B, Tran H, Crabbe E, De Beule C, Van Roy F, Vleminckx K
Chicken beta-globin insulator overcomes variegation of transgenes in Xenopus embryos
FASEB J 22, 2534-40, 2008



Denayer T, Locker M, Borday C, Deroo T, Janssens S, Hecht A, Van Roy F, Perron M, Vleminckx K
Canonical Wnt signaling controls proliferation of retinal stem/progenitor cells in postembryonic Xenopus eyes
STEM CELLS 26, 2063-74, 2008



Park J I, Kim w, Lyons p, Ji H, Nguyen T, Cho K, Barton c, Deroo T, Vleminckx K, Mccrea d
Kaiso/p120-Catenin and TCF/beta-Catenin Complexes Coordinately Regulate Canonical Wnt Gene Targets
DEV CELL 8, 843-854, 2005



Ciesiolka M, Delvaeye M, Van Imschoot G, Verschuere V, Mccrea P, Van Roy F, Vleminckx K
p120 catenin is required for morphogenetic movements involved in the formation of the eyes and the craniofacial skeleton in Xenopus
J CELL SCI 117, 4325-4339, 2004



Deroo T, Denayer T, Van Roy F, Vleminckx K
Global inhibition of Lef1/Tcf-dependent Wnt signaling at its nuclear end point abrogates development in transgenic Xenopus embryos
J BIOL CHEM 279, 50670-50675, 2004

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