David Alsteens is the head of the team that has just made this very promising discovery in the health field. He has been working on it for several years. His aim is to investigate the molecular mechanisms. His most valuable ally (apart from his team)? The atomic force microscope.
How did you discover this technique of atomic force microscopy (AFM)?
I used this equipment during my dissertation on the nanoscale organisation of the mycobacterial cell wall. I then decided to learn more about this way of studying cell walls through a PhD thesis and a post-doctorate at UCLouvain. I was then able to explore other aspects, still related to this microscopic technique, during a research stay at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Switzerland).
I learned to couple it with a cell biology dimension. In 2015, I returned to UCLouvain as an FNRS researcher to set up a team. It is looking at all the molecular mechanisms linked to the entry of viruses using AFM.
It has been available since 1986 and has been used on materials, then for imaging in ambient air, then in liquid media. This technology continues to evolve to make surface analysis ever more precise. More recently, AFM has made it possible to investigate micro-organisms and living cells.
What makes it so special?The extremely fine precision of this technology. So you can use it to look at the individual molecule, and that's quite unique.
Is this type of microscope used in other areas at UCLouvain?Yes, in the field of studying Staphylococcus aureus receptors, for example: it allows you to examine how they interact on the skin of different people. In fact, this microscope has many applications, from the study of materials to the structure of biological molecules. Applied to biology, it deciphers the surface of cells under certain physiological conditions, so that their structure, adhesive and mechanical properties, etc. can be assessed. It is also possible to study the structure of individual proteins and to investigate their stability. We can also measure the affinity between ligands and receptors and see how certain drugs block these interactions.
Is it part of a UCLouvain technology platform?All these equipments are gathered in two technological platforms: the IMABIOL platform et the MICA platform.
Does it have any limits?Yes, this is why I decided to combine the latest generation of atomic force microscopes with confocal laser scanning microscopes (CLSM). In 2018, I was awarded an ERC to carry out this project, which aimed to study and characterise the early stages of entry of a single virus directly onto living cells.
► In 2022, Professor Alsteens and his team are achieving great results!
BIO EXPRESS
After obtaining a bachelor's degree in bioengineering at UCLouvain (2004), David Alsteens obtained his master's degree in chemistry and bio-industry in 2007. His master's thesis already hinted at the field he was passionate about, since it dealt with the organisation of the mycobacterial cell wall on a nanometric scale. It was during his doctorate, between 2007 and 2011, in chemistry and nano-biophysics that he was to deepen his field of study, under the direction of Pr Yves Dufrêne, of the Surface and Colloid Chemistry Lab. He became an FNRS research fellow at the Institute of Life Sciences (ISV) between 2011 and 2013. At the same time, he teaches a course on the surface characteristics of materials. He spent two years, between 2013 and 2015, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Switzerland) in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, as part of an EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) fellowship. Since October 2015, he is a qualified FNRS researcher at LIBST - Louvain Institute of Biomolecular Science and Technology. He authored many publications and is a professor at the Faculty of Bioengineering. |
