Bart De Strooper
Laboratory for the Research of Neurodegenerative Diseases
VIB Department of Molecular and Developmental Genetics, K.U.Leuven

MD: Univ. of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, '85 PhD: Univ. of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, '92 Postdoc: EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany '94 VIB Group leader since 1999 Scientific Director, Dept. of Molecular and Developmental Genetics since 2007

e-mail phone +32 16 34 62 27 ADDRESS

Current team members
Group leader: Bart De Strooper
Staff scientists: Amantha Thathiah, Guy Froyen, Lucía Chávez Gutiérrez, Lutgarde Serneels, Thijs Baens, Tilmann Achsel, Vanessa Morais Epifânio
Postdoctoral scientists: Aline Visser, Aneta Maruszewska, Fransesc Guix, Ina Tesseur, Iryna Benilova, Jason Clements, Katrijn Bockstael, Peter Van Loo, Pierre Lau Poui Cheung, Wim Mandemakers
Ph.D. Students: An Weuts, Anna Pimenova, Ellen Jorissen, Fabrizio Renzi, Hugo Borges Almeida, Joke Nevelsteen, Joke Vandewalle, Leen Bammens, Lujia Zhou, Marijke Bauters, Marina Naval Sanchez, Raquel Da Cunha, Seyed Ali Mohammad Shariati, Smaragda Papadopoulou, Vincent Parez
Support personnel: An Snellinx, Eliane Cherretté, Genia De Brauwer, Heidi Lauridsen, Hilde Govaert, Jelle Verbeeck, Karin Winnepenninckx, Katleen Craessaerts, Katrien Horré, Manasi Benurwar, Marianne Borgers, Martine Noblet, Riet Somers, Sam Lismont, Stefanie Belet, Susann Schönefeldt, Tine Vanhoutvin, Veerle Vulsteke, Véronique Hendrickx

Keywords
microscopy and neuronal cell biology - gene transfer - Alzheimer’s disease - proteolytic enzymes and secretases - APP and presenilin

Science
We investigate the secretases which are proteases that cleave the amyloid peptide from the amyloid precursor protein. The amyloid peptide is the main constituent of the plaques in the brain of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. The secretases are not only important drug targets, but they are also involved in the regulation of important signaling processes most notoriously Notch signaling. We use transgenic approaches in mice, primary cultures of neurons and biochemistry, sophisticated imaging and molecular biology to address our questions.

Go to the  laboratory's own website for more details.

Press releases
See also press release (09/07/2009): Bart de Strooper and to-BBB to collaborate on brain delivery of anti-Alzheimer’s antibodies

See also press release (20/03/2009): Progress toward an Alzheimer’s drug that saves brain cells - based on a publication in Science (Serneels et al., Science, 2009)

See also press release (12/02/2009): New target for medicine to combat Alzheimer’s: VIB scientists confirm protein’s key role - based on a publication in Science (Thathiah et al., Science, 2009)

See also press release (15/07/2008): Incorrectly cleaved protein leads to schizophrenia - based on a publication in PNAS (Dejaegere et al., PNAS, 2008).

See also press release (22/04/2008): Ground-breaking new insight into the development of Alzheimer’s disease - based on a publication in PNAS (Hébert et al., PNAS, 2008).

See also press release (29/02/2008): Bart De Strooper receives prestigious USD 200,000 Alzheimer Prize.

Thathiah A, Spittaels K, Hoffmann M, Staes M, Cohen A, Horré K, Vanbrabant M, Coun F, Baekelandt V, Delacourte A, Fischer D, Pollet D, De Strooper B, Merchiers P
The orphan G protein-coupled receptor 3 modulates amyloid-beta peptide generation in neurons
SCIENCE 323, 946-51, 2009



Serneels L, Van Biervliet J, Craessaerts K, Dejaegere T, Horré K, Van Houtvin T, Esselmann H, Paul S, Schäfer M, Berezovska O, Hyman B, Sprangers B, Sciot R, Moons L, Jucker M, Yang Z, May P, Karran E, Wiltfang J, D'hooge R, De Strooper B
gamma-Secretase heterogeneity in the Aph1 subunit: relevance for Alzheimer's disease
SCIENCE 324, 639-42, 2009



Wakabayashi T, Craessaerts K, Bammens L, Bentahir M, Borgions F, Herdewijn P, Staes A, Timmerman E, Vandekerckhove J, Rubinstein E, Boucheix C, Gevaert K, De Strooper B
Analysis of the gamma-secretase interactome and validation of its association with tetraspanin-enriched microdomains
NAT CELL BIOL 11, 1340-6, 2009



Hébert S, Horré K, Nicolaï L, Papadopoulou A, Mandemakers W, Silahtaroglu A, Kauppinen S, Delacourte A, De Strooper B
Loss of microRNA cluster miR-29a/b-1 in sporadic Alzheimer's disease correlates with increased BACE1/beta-secretase expression
P NATL ACAD SCI USA 105, 6415-20, 2008



Cipolat S, Rudka T, Hartmann D, Costa V, Serneels L, Craessaerts K, Metzger K, Frezza C, Annaert W, D'Adamio L, Derks C, Dejaegere T, Pellegrini L, D'hooge R, Scorrano L, De Strooper B
Mitochondrial Rhomboid PARL Regulates Cytochrome c Release during Apoptosis via OPA1-Dependent Cristae Remodeling
CELL 126, 163-75, 2006

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