Jurgen Del-Favero
Applied Molecular Genomics
VIB Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Antwerp

PhD: Univ. of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium, '95 VIB Group leader since 2003 Associate Professor, Univ. of Antwerp since 2005

e-mail phone +32 3 265 10 32 ADDRESS

Current team members
Group leader: Jurgen Del-Favero
Staff scientists: Dirk Goossens, Peter De Rijk
Postdoctoral scientists: Anthony Liekens, Karlijn van der Ven
Ph.D. Students: Bart Aelterman, Frederik Colle, Maarten Van Den Bossche, Shana Ceulemans
Support personnel: An-Sofie Lenaerts, Lien Heyrman, Shirley Scheipers, Sonia De Zutter, Veerle Depreeuw, Wim Glassee

Keywords
psychiatric diseases - pharmacogenetics/genomics - gene mapping and cloning - product and technology development - bioinformatics - computational software tools

Science

Summary
The research of the AMG group is focused on the unraveling of genetic and genomic determinants causing schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In order to achieve our goals we use, implement and develop state of the art methods and technologies.

Science
The Applied Molecular Genomics group has a dual mission statement. Our first mission is to unravel the underlying genetic and/or genomic causes leading to psychiatric diseases in general and of schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD) in particular which is of major importance for a better understanding of the pathogenesis of these devastating diseases. Indeed, SZ and BPD are, with a prevalence of approximately 1% each, among the most common brain disorders worldwide and with a high rate of morbidity and mortality they constitute a major public health problem. Both are complex disorders, likely caused by an interaction of multiple genetic and environmental predisposing factors.
To achieve our goal we use and collect large samples of patients and relatives for genetic studies aiming at identifying disease genes using either a positional cloning strategy in multiplex families or association studies in patient/control groups. Performing a genome wide scan analysis on BPD multiplex families from northern Sweden we identified genome wide linkage on chromosome 9q, which could be further narrowed to a candidate region of 1.6 Mb. Further investigation of this locus will allow us to identify the causal variant(s) in this family. Another major contribution was made using a population based genetic association study design to exploit the role of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2), being the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of serotonin, in psychiatric disorders. Our analysis provided evidence for a genetic protective involvement of TPH2 in bipolar disorder, supporting a central role for this gene in the pathogenesis of BPD.
In our current research we aim to extend our previous findings using state of the art methods and technologies and to unraveling the genetic/genomic causes leading to SZ and BPD by identifying novel positional and/or functional candidate genes, exploring the involvement of posttranslational modification through genetic analysis of genes involved in A to I editing, determining the involvement copy number variants and investigating the contribution of non coding RNAs in the etiology of SZ and BPD. Also we will further invest in collecting meticulous (endo)phenotyped multiplex families and unrelated patients both from northern Sweden and Belgium. To cope with the large amount of data that will be generated in the next years we started with an interdisciplinary development and implementation of a state of the art data mining platform.

The second mission of the AMG group is to develop and implement methods and technologies for research of (complex) diseases and to evaluate potential applications thereof for valorization. Hereto a Technology Unit is embedded in the Applied Molecular Genomics group for developing of bioinformatics tools to streamline the process of gene identification in complex diseases. Recently developed tools include a software package dedicated to the automated identification of SNPs directly from sequence trace files (novoSNP) and a proprietary algorithm for designing multiplex PCR reactions (MultiPCR). Based on this algorithm we developed a PCR based method for high throughput analysis of copy number variations which we termed Multiplex Amplicon Quantification (MAQ). Also we showed in a proof of concept that MultiPCR can be used as a front end tool for next generation sequencing enabling diagnostic sequencing applications. The multiplex technology is the core technology of the AMG embedded Business unit, Multiplicon.

Goossens D, Moens L, Nelis E, Lenaerts A, Glassee W, Kalbe A, Frey B, Kopal G, De Jonghe P, De Rijk P, Del-Favero J
Simultaneous mutation and copy number variation (CNV) detection by multiplex PCR-based GS-FLX sequencing
HUM MUTAT 30, 472-6, 2009



Alaerts M, Ceulemans S, Forero D, Moens L, De Zutter S, Heyrman L, Lenaerts A, Norrback K, De Rijk P, Nilsson L, Goossens D, Adolfsson R, Del-Favero J
Support for NRG1 as a susceptibility factor for schizophrenia in a northern Swedish isolated population
ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT 66, 828-37, 2009



Sutrala S, Goossens D, Williams N, Heyrman L, Adolfsson R, Norton N, Buckland P, Del-Favero J
Gene copy number variation in schizophrenia
SCHIZOPHR RES 96, 93-9, 2007



Van Den Bogaert A, Sleegers K, De Zutter S, Heyrman L, Norrback K, Adolfsson R, Van Broeckhoven C, Del-Favero J
Association of Brain-Specific Tryptophan Hydroxylase, TPH2, With Unipolar and Bipolar Disorder in a Northern Swedish, Isolated Population
ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT 63, 1103-10, 2006



Venken T, Claes S, Sluijs S, Paterson d, van Duijn C, Adolfsson R, Del-Favero J, Van Broeckhoven C
Genomewide scan for affective disorder susceptibility Loci in families of a northern Swedish isolated population
AM J HUM GENET 76, 237-248, 2005

print friendly