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, Evgenia Salta, Francesc Guix, Ina Tesseur, Iryna Benilova, Jason Clements, Katrijn Bockstael, Marijke Bauters, Peter Van Loo, Pierre Lau Poui Cheung, Wim Mandemakers
Ph.D. Students: An Weuts, Anna Pimenova, Behrooz Soltani-Nasrabad, Fabrizio Renzi, Hugo Borges Almeida, Joke Nevelsteen, Joke Vandewalle, Leen Bammens, Lujia Zhou, Marina Naval Sanchez, Raquel Da Cunha, Samer Matta, Seyed Ali Mohammad Shariati, Smaragda Papadopoulou, Vincent Parez
Support personnel: An Snellinx, Eliane Cherretté, Greet Marien, Heidi Lauridsen, Hilde Govaert, Ingrid Pintens, Jelle Verbeeck, Karin Winnepenninckx, Katleen Craessaerts, Katrien Horré, Manasi Benurwar, Marianne Borgers, Marta Ciesielska, Martine Noblet, Riet Somers, Sam Lismont, Stefanie Belet, 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 basic mechanisms causing Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease starting from the genetic forms of these disorders.  For Alzheimer’s disease we focus on 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.

For Parkinson’s disease we investigate the effect of mutations in the genes Pink1, Lrrk2 and Parl-1 on brain function.

We use  in all our work transgenic approaches  primary cultures of neurons and biochemistry, sophisticated imaging and molecular biology to address our questions. We are also strongly committed to collaboration with industry to generate novel drugs for these devastating disorders

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

Press releases
See also press release (10/12/2009): Amount of gene surplus determines severity of mental retardation in males based on a publication in the leading journal The American Journal of Human Genetics (Vandewalle et al.)

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.

De Strooper B
Proteases and proteolysis in Alzheimer disease: a multifactorial view on the disease process
PHYSIOL REV 90, 465-94, 2010



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



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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