VIB KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research

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VIB KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research

Understanding the Brain, Curing Disease 🧠🧪
Dynamic neuroscience research community 🌍

20/05/2025

Prof. Joris de Wit (lab leader) and Ben Verpoort (first author).
This research team had also the collaboration of other researchers from CBD, including the Electrophysiology Unit and VIB Bioimaging Core, as well as researchers from VIB-UGent.
This research showed how GPR158 acts as a “molecular brake”, extremely necessary for brain development.
“It opens exciting avenues for studying how synapses stabilize — or fail to — in disorders of brain connectivity.”, affirms Joris de Wit.

20/05/2025

Cultured mouse cortical neuron demonstrating enriched PLCXD2, the protein in which GPR158 act as a molecular brake, expression in a subset of dendritic spines, the small antennae of our neurons.
When PLCXD2 isn’t stopped, “We see underdeveloped synapses that likely communicate less effectively, which could have severe consequences for learning and memory formation”, according to Ben Verpoort.
Image credits: Ben Verpoort et al. 2025

22/04/2025

🤸‍♂️ Our researchers really went the extra mile at this year’s European Running Championship in raising awareness for Alzheimer’s disease!

Nóra Baligács — PhD student in the lab of Bart De Strooper and the key volunteer fundraising organizer at our center (pictured below doing a handstand!) — shares: “I am very proud that I finished my first marathon and that I could combine that with raising awareness and donations for Alzheimer’s research, which I am very passionate about.”

Find out more about our collaboration with Stichting Alzheimer Onderzoek (SAO) below in our latest News story at cbd.sites.vib.be!

18/04/2025

🌟 A very special this week featuring the winners of the annual VIB Bioimaging Core competition! 🤩

• 𝘍𝘭𝘺 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢 by Sarah Martens (Sha Liu Lab)
• 𝘕𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘯 by Nona Merckx (Pierre Vanderhaeghen Lab)
• 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪 𝘊𝘦𝘭𝘭 by Lynette Lim (Lynette Lim Lab)
• 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘚𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴 by Céline Vrancx (Wim Annaert Lab)
• 𝘛𝘢𝘶 𝘛𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘴 by Nóra Baligács (Bart De Strooper Lab)

🔬

01/11/2024

🔬 T.G.I. ! This image of a fruit fly ( 🪰) brain vasculature by Nikky Corthout (Bioimaging Core) and Miranda Dyson (Sha Liu Lab) was chosen as an Image of Distinction in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition! ✨

24/10/2024

🤝 Twin4Promis is an EU Twinning Project that brings scientists together to collaboratively tackle protein aggregation. The Switch Lab is one of the research groups contributing its expertise and resources to the mission.

🚀 Two years after the project’s launch, we check in to find out how the partnership has progressed and the impact it has had.

💬 "Thanks to the project, I had the chance to not only work in a lab abroad, but in the Switch Lab specifically. I’m still excited to have had the opportunity to come here and collaborate with them – it feels surreal, especially after following their groundbreaking work for years." Effie Karyda, a PhD student visiting the Switch Lab through the Twin4Promis initiative.

Read the blog 👉 blog.vib.be/the-scientific-collaboration-to-fight-protein-aggregation

22/10/2024

🌠 Wim Annaert, group leader of the Laboratory of Membrane Trafficking, who received a BrightFocus Foundation Grant to study the mechanisms of Alzheimer's Disease!

In this project, researchers will combine novel chimeric human-mouse models with in vitro human neurons and microglia to investigate the cell type specific contributions of the gene presenilin2 to Alzheimer's disease pathology.

Find out more 👉 cbd.sites.vib.be/en/news #/news/wim-annaert-receives-brightfocus-foundation-grant-to-support-alzheimers-research

15/10/2024

📣 New research from the Vanderhaeghen Lab finds link between genes involved in human brain evolution and developmental disorders 🧠📈

💡 The human brain’s remarkably prolonged development is unique among mammals and is thought to contribute to our advanced learning abilities.

🧬 Researchers based at our Center, in collaboration with scientists at Columbia University and Ecole normale supérieure, have discovered a link between two genes present only in human DNA and a key gene called SYNGAP1.

“We discovered that when you turn off these genes in human neurons, synaptic development speeds up at remarkable levels," says Dr. Baptiste Libé-Philippot, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Vanderhaeghen Lab.

"By 18 months, the synapses are comparable to what we would expect to see in children between five and ten years old! This mirrors the accelerated synapse development observed in certain forms of autism spectrum disorder.”

Find out more about the study, published in Neuron ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/eNNb7KV8

15/10/2024

📣 New research from the Vanderhaeghen Lab finds link between genes involved in human brain evolution and developmental disorders 🧠📈

💡 The human brain’s remarkably prolonged development is unique among mammals and is thought to contribute to our advanced learning abilities.

🧬 Researchers based at our Center, in collaboration with scientists at Columbia University and Ecole Normale Supérieure, have discovered a link between two genes present only in human DNA and a key gene called SYNGAP1.

“We discovered that when you turn off these genes in human neurons, synaptic development speeds up at remarkable levels," says Dr. Baptiste Libé-Philippot, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Vanderhaeghen Lab.

"By 18 months, the synapses are comparable to what we would expect to see in children between five and ten years old! This mirrors the accelerated synapse development observed in certain forms of autism spectrum disorder.”

Find out more about the study, published in Neuron ⤵️

https://lnkd.in/eNNb7KV8

09/10/2024

👋 Meet Silke Vanderhaeghe, Editor at : a magazine by and for PhD students to help them survive and thrive in what's referred to in academia lingo as 'The Valley of S**t' 💩🗻

As Silke wraps up her PhD in the Ludo Van Den Bosch Lab and her tenure as Editor, we take a moment to look back on highlights from the past few years and catch up on her next steps in writing and... sled dogs! 🐕 🛷

Read the Blog 👉 blog.vib.be/thriving-through-the-valley-of-sh*t

07/10/2024

🎇 Congratulations to our PhD students who received prestigious fellowships from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) to fund their research! 🚀

• Lenja De C**k (Laboratory of Neurobiology)

• Hannah Dickmänken (Laboratory of Computational Biology)

• Jozefien Goethals (Laboratory of Neurobiology)

• Alexandra Pančíková (Laboratory of Computational Biology)

• Caterina Travisan (Laboratory of Proteolytic Mechanisms Mediating Neurodegeneration)

• Annie Wiedmer (Laboratory of Neuronal Communication)

04/10/2024

👁️‍🗨️ Watch Christine Germeys, PhD student in the Lab of Neurobiology, share a bite-sized summary of her research on EGLN2, a potential new therapeutic target for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)!

📹 youtube.com/watch?v=9Lux6-NcCE8
📰 cbd.sites.vib.be/en/news #/news/new-research-identifies-potential-therapeutic-target-for-als

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