Wim Robberecht
Neurobiology
VIB Vesalius Research Center, K.U. Leuven

MD: Univ. of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, '84 PhD: Univ. of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium '90 Postdoctoral training: Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, '91-'93

e-mail +32 16 33 07 70 ADDRESS

Current team members
Group leader: Wim Robberecht
Staff scientists: Ludo Van Den Bosch, Philip Van Damme, Vincent Thijs
Postdoctoral scientists: André Abreu Bento, Angela Laird
Ph.D. Students: Annelies Van Hoecke, Constantin van Outryve d'Ydewalle, Driss Chiheb, Elke Bogaert, Ines Taes, Kim Staats, Lies Schoonaert, Liya Jose, Louis De Muynck, Nathalie Wilmans, Thi Thu Hoai Nguyen, Thomas Philips
Support personnel: Bea Weynants, Mieke Timmers, Nicky Claeys, Nicole Hersmus, Veerle Geelen, Wendy Scheveneels

Keywords
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - stroke - motor neuron - neurodegeneration - animal models

Science
Our laboratory focuses on the mechanisms of acute and chronic axonal and neuronal degeneration and regeneration, aiming to contribute to the development of a therapy for neurodegenerative disorders.  This group intensively studies motor neuron disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and hereditary motor neuropathy), frontotemporal dementia and stroke as a paradigm of acute neurodegeneration.

Both a familial (autosomal dominant) and sporadic form of ALS are known to exist. Mutations in several genes are known to cause familial ALS, SOD1 mutations and the recently discovered TDP-43 mutations being the most important ones.
The neurobiology laboratory investigates the role of excitotoxicity and calcium metabolism in the pathogenesis of ALS, the significance of VEGF in this disease, and the contribution of non-neuronal cells to its pathogenesis. Furthermore, the genetic contribution to the pathogenesis of ALS is a main topic of study and has initiated the investigation of axonal transport in motor neuron degeneration. In addition, this group has developed a zebrafish model to perform a morpholino-based screen of disease -modifying factors in ALS.

Mutant SOD1 is thought to induced motor neuron degeneration through aberrant protein folding and aggregation. Therefore, the role of heat shock proteins in motor axonal degeneration is being investiged, and in particular that of HSP27 which is upregulated in ALS spinal cord, and of which mutations are known to cause a form of distal hereditary motor neuropathies.

Both clinically and pathologically there is a clear link between ALS and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Familial forms of FTD can be caused by mutations in tau and progranulin. The group of Wim Robberecht therefore studies the molecular relationship between these two disorders by investigating the biology of tau, progranulin and TDP-43.

Finally, to elucidate the mechanisms underlying axonal regeneration, paradigms of acute neurodegeneration as relevant to stroke and recovery from it are a topic of study in this laboratory.

This research is being conducted using in vitro and in vivo models. Both glial and primary motor neuron cultures are studied. Spontaneous, induced and transgenic models for acute and chronic neurodegeneration are used. Genetic and clinical studies are made possible by the link of this group with the department of neurology at the University Hospital Leuven.

Press Releases
See also press release (10/02/2010): Development of Leuven’s candidate medicine against nerve disease ALS moves into higher gear

See also press release (01/12/2008): First trial in patients with a potential treatment of the incurable ALS muscle disease.

Bogaert E, Van Damme P, Poesen K, Dhondt J, Hersmus N, Kiraly D, Scheveneels W, Robberecht W, Van Den Bosch L
VEGF protects motor neurons against excitotoxicity by upregulation of GluR2
NEUROBIOL AGING e-pub, e-pub, 2010



Simpson c, Lemmens R, Miskiewicz K, Broom W, Hansen V, Van Vught P, Landers J, Sapp P, Van Den Bosch L, Knight J, Neale B, Turner M, Veldink J, Ophoff R, Tripathi V, Beleza A, Shah M, Proitsi P, Van Hoecke A, Carmeliet P, Horvitz H, Leigh P, Shaw C, Van Den Berg L, Sham P, Powell J, Verstreken P, Brown R, Robberecht W, Al-Chalabi A
Variants of the elongator protein 3 (ELP3) gene are associated with motor neuron degeneration
HUM MOL GENET 18, 472-81, 2009



Van Es M, Veldink J, Saris C, Blauw H, Van Vught P, Birve A, Lemmens R, Schelhaas H, Groen E, Huisman M, Van Der Kooi A, de Visser M, Dahlberg C, Estrada K, Rivadeneira F, Hofman A, Zwarts M, Van Doormaal P, Rujescu D, Strengman E, Giegling I, Muglia P, Tomik B, Slowik A, Uitterlinden A, Hendrich C, Waibel S, Meyer T, Ludolph A, Glass J, Purcell S, Cichon S, Nothen M, Wichmann H, Schreiber S, Vermeulen S, Kiemeney L, Wokke J, Cronin S, Mclaughlin R, Hardiman O, Fumoto K, Pasterkamp R, Meininger V, Melki J, Leigh P, Shaw C, Landers J, Al-Chalabi A, Brown R, Robberecht W, Andersen P, Ophoff R, Van Den Berg L
Genome-wide association study identifies 19p13.3 (UNC13A) and 9p21.2 as susceptibility loci for sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
NAT GENET 41, 1083-7, 2009



Van Damme P, Van Hoecke A, Lambrechts D, Vanacker P, Bogaert E, Van Swieten J, Carmeliet P, Van Den Bosch L, Robberecht W
Progranulin functions as a neurotrophic factor to regulate neurite outgrowth and enhance neuronal survival
J CELL BIOL 181, 37-41, 2008



Lemmens R, Van Hoecke A, Hersmus N, Geelen V, D'hollander I, Thijs V, Van Den Bosch L, Carmeliet P, Robberecht W
Overexpression of mutant superoxide dismutase 1 causes a motor axonopathy in the zebrafish
HUM MOL GENET 16, 2359-65, 2007

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