Research focus
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.
Publications
The orphan G protein-coupled receptor 3 modulates amyloid-beta peptide generation in neuronsThathiah 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 PSCIENCE, 323, 946-51, 2009 gamma-Secretase heterogeneity in the Aph1 subunit: relevance for Alzheimer's diseaseSerneels 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 BSCIENCE, 324, 639-42, 2009 Analysis of the gamma-secretase interactome and validation of its association with tetraspanin-enriched microdomainsWakabayashi 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 BNATURE CELL BIOLOGY, 11, 1340-6, 2009
News
18/11/2010 - VIB researchers Peter Carmeliet and Bart De Strooper have both been awarded Advanced Grants from the European Research Council. ERC Advanced Grants are the most prestigious European research grants, spanning a period of 5 years. 11/10/2010 - VIB and Janssen R&D Neuroscience entered into an open-innovation collaboration to develop novel therapeutics for psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. 14/09/2010 - For the first time in Belgium, a private partner and an academic research institution have established a fund for research into a disease. 10/12/2009 - Researchers have discovered a new explanation for differences in the severity of mental illness in males. The more excess copies of a certain gene, the more serious the handicap. 19/04/2009 - VIB scientists connected to the K.U.Leuven have identified a molecule that can form the basis for a new therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. This is the first step toward a medicine that could actually stop the progress of Alzheimer’s. 12/02/2009 - VIB scientists connected to the Center for Human Genetics (K.U.Leuven) have demonstrated that a particular protein is extremely well suited to be a target for a new medicine against Alzheimer’s disease. 16/09/2008 - Revealing the regulating mechanism behind signal transduction in the brain 14/07/2008 - Incorrectly cleaved protein leads to schizophrenia 22/04/2008 - Ground-breaking new insight into the development of Alzheimer’s disease 29/02/2008 - Bart De Strooper (VIB, K.U.Leuven) has been playing a prominent role in researching the processes that underlie Alzheimer's disease and now he receives the MetLife Foundation’s USD 200,000 Alzheimer Prize. 24/01/2008 - Discovery of new cause of mental retardation simplifies search for treatments 14/07/2006 - Scientists have now discovered the function of the PARL protein. By studying mice that are unable to produce PARL, the researchers have discovered the significance of this protein in controlled cell death
 Bart De StrooperResearch area(s)Model organism(s)BioMD: Univ. of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, 1985
Ph.D.: Univ. of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, 1992
Post-doc: EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany 1994
VIB Group leader since 1999
EMBO Member
Scientific Director, Dept. of Molecular and Developmental Genetics since 2007 Contact Info
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