Natural Intelligence in Health

Het Europees Fonds voor Regionale Ontwikkeling (EFRO) / Kansen voor West project 'Natural Intelligence in Health' heeft tot doel de uitbreiding van de kennis over de werking van stoffen en het verbeteren van C. elegans als laboratoriummodel voor darmgezondheid. Projectleider en penvoerder van het project is Vivaltes, welke de rondworm C. elegans gebruikt om de effecten van bioactieve stoffen te onderzoeken. Binnen het EFRO project zullen wij darmreporters maken om gezondheid van de darm te monitoren in C. elegans en onderzoek doen naar darmgezondheid en functioneren.

SurfEx - Epithelial Exchange Surfaces: From organizing principles to ex vivo disease models of the gatekeepers of the body.

SurfEx is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network programme that places the training of Doctoral Candidates (DCs) at the core of its approach.

The goal of SurfEx is to better understand how epithelial cells form a functional apical exchange surface that protects against external insults and transports essential materials across the intestinal and renal epithelium.

For more details, please visit the SurfEx website

NERVSPAN - Molecular plasticity of neurons during C. elegans lifespan.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network programme NERVSPAN will provide state-of-the-art training to 11 young researchers examining neuronal development and plasticity over the entire lifespan of the nematode C. elegans while also investigating the sex specific aspects of neuronal identity and function.

Within NERVSPAN, our group aims to identify and characterize novel regulators of (neuronal) cell polarity.

For more details, please visit the NERVSPAN website

Control of epithelial morphogenesis by cortical polarity regulators

Epithelial cells form the lining of our bodies and organs. They protect the body against harmful substances and regulate the exchange of nutrients and waste product with the environment. To perform these functions, epithelial cells require a specific organization, in which different sides of the cell play different roles. Loss of epithelial organization contributes to the development of diseases including cancer. The organization of epithelial cells starts with the establishment of an internal compass, pointing in a top to bottom direction. In this project, funded by the Dutch Research Council, we investigate how this internal compass is used to give epithelial cells their correct organization.