The Hematology and Immunology Group has activities both at the Medical Faculty and at the University Hospital.
At the Medicine and Pharmacy department of VUB, our main goal is to develop innovative therapeutic strategies for different hematological tumors including Multiple Myeloma and Acute Myeloid Leukemia, by unravelling their pathobiological processes.
Our team is headed by Prof. Dr. Karin Vanderkerken, who has long standing expertise in myeloma biology. Research is divided over 3 team leaders who each focus with their team of PhD students on different goals.
Prof. Dr. Eline Menu has an established interest in cellular metabolism as a targetable pathway for novel therapeutics including immunotherapy. Currently she is focusing on optimizing novel CAR T cell therapies by genetic modulation.
Prof. Dr. Elke De Bruyne has strong expertise in the field of epigenetics and has more recently also started exploring the therapeutic potential of extracellular vesicles (EVs) for Multiple Myeloma therapy. Currently she is focusing on identifying new epigenetic modulators (so called epiplayers) driving MM relapse and developing EV-based targeting tools to target these epiplayers in the tumor cells specifically.
Prof. Dr. Kim De Veirman focuses on the development and therapeutic application of novel immunotherapies, including single-domain antibodies, to target residual cancer cells in both Multiple Myeloma and Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
Our team uses top-notch methodologies and technologies including syngeneic murine models, the latest gene editing techniques, Seahorse analysis, sequencing strategies, immune phenotyping,...We have active collaborations with other European centers including Erasmus University Rotterdam, University of Parma, University of Montpellier, University of Lille, University of Uppsala, KU Leuven and industrial partners.
In the department Hematology of the UZ Brussel, the main research focus is directed to the clinical application of new cellular therapies and the use of liquid biopsies for epigenetic profiling in hematological cancers, in particular Multiple Myeloma.
Prof. Dr. Ivan Van Riet is promotor of research projects that focus on the use of blood (liquid biopsies)—derived biomarkers for detection of minimal residual disease and (epi-)genetic profiling of Multiple Myelom. As head of the cell therapy laboratory, he is also responsible for the processing and preparation of various hematopoietic cell products for clinical use (both in standard of care setting and in clinical trials). These products are mainly used for stem cell transplantation strategies and immune effector cell therapies (including the use of CAR-T cells and myeloid dendritic cells, the latter in collaboration with the team of Prof. Dr. Bart Neyns)
Our cell therapy programme in the UZ Brussel is at the international level accredited by JACIE and has at the national level the required accreditations, awarded by the national marrow donor programme (MDP-B) as well as the required cell bank licences, awarded by the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health care products (FAGG).
At the Center of Medical Genetics at the UZ Brussel, Prof. Dr. Ken Maes and his team are performing diagnostic tests for the identification of somatic and germline genetic alterations associated with cancer development and hereditary forms of cancer. The research program currently focuses on the characterization of the somatic and germline genetic landscape in cancer with an emphasis on ‘variants of unknown significance’ or VUS. Through dedicated functional assays of oncogenic pathways, mRNA splicing and DNA repair pathways, the aim is to characterize these VUS and provide clarity about their consequences for cancer development and risk for hereditary cancer.
