Seminars and thesis defences

October 26, 2026 – 1pm – Auditoire Maisin
Prof. Liselot DEWACHTER - DDUV BCHM
How the lipid carrier UndP influences cell division and morphology in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Related publication:
Liselot Dewachter, Julien Dénéréaz, Xue Liu, Vincent de Bakker, Charlotte Costa, Mara Baldry, Jean-Claude Sirard, Jan-Willem Veening (2022) Amoxicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae can be resensitized by targeting the mevalonate pathway as indicated by sCRilecs-seq eLife 11:e75607. doi: 10.7554/eLife.75607

Info: joseph.lorent@uclouvain.be
 

Thursday October 15, 2026 – 5pm – Auditoire 51G

Victoria FUCHS – TFAR CLIP

Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation: Insights from Real-World Data on Drug Interactions and Medication Adherence

Promotor: Prof. Séverine Henrard
Co-promotor: Prof. Anne Spinewine

Related publication:
•    Fuchs, V.A., Spinewine, A., Zerah, L. et al. Non-adherence and non-persistence of Direct Oral Anticoagulants among patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation: a French retrospective cohort study. Sci Rep 15, 10791 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-96030-6
•     Fuchs, V.A., Zerah, L., Spinewine, A. et al. Drug-drug interactions with direct oral anticoagulants in Belgian primary care patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Sci Rep 16, 23253 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-53817-5

Info: severine.henrard@uclouvain.be

October 12, 2026 – 1pm – Auditoire Maisin

Julie STOCKIS - DDUV INIM
Decoding tissue Tregs: one cell type, many niches

Related publication:

• Stockis J, Yip T, Moreno-Vicente J, Burton O, Samarakoon Y, Schuijs MJ, Raghunathan S, Garcia C, Luo W, Whiteside SK, Png S, Simpson C, Monk S, Sawle A, Yin K, Barbieri J, Papadopoulos P, Wong H, Rodewald HR, Vyse T, McKenzie ANJ, Cragg MS, Hoare M, Withers DR, Fehling HJ, Roychoudhuri R, Liston A, Halim TYF. Cross-talk between ILC2 and Gata3high Tregs locally constrains adaptive type 2 immunity. Sci Immunol. 2024 Jul 19;9(97):eadl1903. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.adl1903
• Stockis J, Yip T, Raghunathan S, Garcia C, Lee S, Simpson C, Pinaud S, Schuijs MS, Araos Henríquez J, Png S, Raddi G, Bricard O, So TY, Mack S, Papadopoulos P, Sawle A, Jodrell DI, McKenzie ANJ, Thaventhiran JED, Clatworthy MR, Biffi G, Saeb-Parsy K, Liston A, Halim TYF. Tissue-resident regulatory T cells exert dualistic anti-tumour and pro-repair function in the exocrine pancreas. bioRxiv 2024.02.15.580302. doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.15.580302

Info: joseph.lorent@uclouvain.be

Thursday, October 8, 2026 – 1pm – Auditoire Maisin 
Prof. Chad LEIDY - Associate Professor, Dept. of Physics, Universidad de los Andes, Colombie
Does membrane lipid phase behaviour play a role in determining tolerance to antimicrobial activity in Staphylococcus aureus?

Related publications:
•    Christian Fuertes-Chaves, Juan E. Gonzalez, Elizabeth Suesca, Paula Guzmán-Sastoque, Carolina Muñoz-Camargo, Marcela Manrique-Moreno, Chiara Carazzone, Chad Leidy, Exposure to the antimicrobial peptides LL-37 and ATRA-1 induces a lipidome response in Staphylococcus aureus that alters membrane biophysical properties, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes, Volume 1868, Issue 4, 2026, 184552, ISSN 0005-2736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2026.184552
•    Maria Isabel Perez-Lopez, Rudy Mendez-Reina, Steve Trier, Cornelia Herrfurth, Ivo Feussner, Adriana Bernal, Manu Forero-Shelton, Chad Leidy. Variations in carotenoid content and acyl chain composition in exponential, stationary and biofilm states of Staphylococcus aureus, and their influence on membrane biophysical properties, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes, Volume 1861, Issue 5, 2019, Pages 978-987, ISSN 0005-2736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2019.02.001

Info : joseph.lorent@uclouvain.be
 

Wednesday September 16, 2026 – 3pm – Salle Martin V 42A (42 MART A)

Sophie LECOP – MNUT

Identification and evaluation of microbiome-based therapies to tackle cachexia in acute myeloid leukemia

Promotor: Prof. Laure Bindels

Related publication:
•    Pötgens SA, *Lecop S, Havelange V, Li F, Neyrinck AM, Neveux N, Maertens J, Walter J, Schoemans H, Delzenne NM, Bindels LB. Gut microbiota alterations induced by intensive chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukaemia patients are associated with gut barrier dysfunction and body weight loss. Clin Nutr. 2023 Nov;42(11):2214-2228. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2023.09.021. Epub 2023 Sep 25. PMID: 37806074.
•    Lecop S, Piron E, Neyrinck AM, Loriot A, Pötgens SA, Helaers R, Jacquet A, Morigny P, Scorletti E, Bilson J, Byrne CD, Cani PD, Rohm M, Vereecke L, Hitch TCA, Clavel T, Delzenne NM, Bindels LB. Mixed acid fermentation products from Lachnospira eligens counteract myotube atrophy. bioRxiv. 2026 Jun; doi: 10.64898/2026.06.10.729780.

Info: laure.bindels@uclouvain.be 
 

Wednesday, September 16, 2026 – 1pm – Salle De Visscher (74.00) 

Prof. Sander Rensen - Maastricht University, Nederland

Organoid approaches to study the clinical relevance of tumor-host interactions in cancer cachexia

Related publications :
•    Inflammation-associated intramyocellular lipid alterations in human pancreatic cancer cachexia. Deng M, Cao J, van der Kroft G, van Dijk DPJ, Aberle MR, Grgic A, Neumann UP, Wiltberger G, Balluff B, Schaap FG, Heeren RMA, Olde Damink SWM, Rensen SS. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2024;15:1283-1297. doi: 10.1002/jcsm.13474
•    Human pancreatic tumour organoid-derived factors enhance myogenic differentiation. Vaes RDW, van Dijk DPJ, Farshadi EA, Olde Damink SWM, Rensen SS*, Langen RC*. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2022;13:1302-1313. doi: 10.1002/jcsm.12917
•    Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity-inducing antibodies enhance the natural killer cell anti-cancer response against patient-derived pancreatic cancer organoids. Beelen NA, Aberle MR, Bruno V, Olde Damink SWM, Bos GMJ, Rensen SS*, Wieten L*. Front Immunol. 2023 Jul 14;14:1133796. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1133796

Info: laure.bindels@uclouvain.be
 

Monday November 23, 2026 - 1pm - Auditoire Maisin

Prof. Antoine CHRISTIAENS – Chercheur Qualifié FNRS – TFAR CLIP
My Future at LDRI: A causal and personalised framework for understanding the mechanisms of overtreatment in older adults with type 2 diabetes

Infos : joseph.lorent@uclouvain.be
 

Monday November 9, 2026 - 1pm - Auditoire Maisin

George Nyasha CHIDUZA - PhD, Biochemistry and Structural Biology (BSB), ULB
Rethinking Transporter Pathology: Opposite Structural Defects Drive Identical Autism Phenotypes in LAT1

Related publications:
•    George N Chiduza, Ken-Taro Sakata, Hannah G Wolfe, Faria Noor, Anant K Menon. Mechanism-guided mutagenesis of Rft1 to test its role as a dolichol-linked oligosaccharide scramblase in cells. Protein Sci. 2026 Aug;35(8):e70715. doi: 10.1002/pro.70715
•    David Dickens, George N Chiduza, Gareth S A Wright, Munir Pirmohamed, Svetlana V Antonyuk, S Samar Hasnain. Modulation of LAT1 (SLC7A5) transporter activity and stability by membrane cholesterol. Sci Rep. 2017 Mar 8:7:43580. doi: 10.1038/srep43580

Infos : joseph.lorent@uclouvain.be
 

Monday November 30, 2026 - 1pm - Auditoire Maisin

Prof. Mohamad ASSI, group leader at DDUV
Tumor Cell Signaling and Adaptation to Microenvironmental Stress

Related publications:
•    Assi M, Wang R, Kawaler EA, Sohn ASW, Zahidunnabi Dewan M, Kalfakakou D, Encarnacion-Rosado J, Kapner KS, Ganguly K, Paulo JA, Simeone DM, Aguirre AJ, Banh RS, Kimmelman AC. Extracellular matrix sensing regulates intratumoral heterogeneity of autophagic flux. Cell. 2026 Mar 19;189(6):1731-1747.e25. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2025.12.053
•    Wang R, Sohn AS, Li J, Assi M. Differential regulation of the proliferative and autophagic responses in murine and human pancreatic cancer cells. Autophagy Rep. 2026 Aug 27;5(1):2715823. doi:10.1080/27694127.2026.2715823 
•    Assi M, Kimmelman AC. Impact of context-dependent autophagy states on tumor progression. Nat Cancer. 2023 May;4(5):596-607. doi:10.1038/s43018-023-00546-7

Infos : quentin.spillier@uclouvain.be