Research
Our group has a focus on biological barriers in health and disease, most work is done on the blood-brain barrier, blood-saliva barrier, kidney and lung epithelia. Diseases of interest are CNS developmental diseases (RETT syndrome, Syngap-1 syndrome, etc.), acute CNS diseases (stroke, traumatic brain injury, infections such as SARS-CoV-2) as well as chronic CNS diseases (Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, chronic inflammation), systemic inflammation, sepsis, etc. We develop novel in vitro models based on human pluripotent stem cells, immortalized cell lines and primary cells for IVIVC studies in different set-ups (Transwell, dynamic flow models, spheroid models). Several topics in the model development are related to the 3Rs principles in order to improve biomedical science in general and are benchmarked against clinical human data and parameters. We use the models for e.g.:
- Understanding cross-talk between barrier forming cells and their microenvironment
- Understanding disease mechanisms
- Understanding species differences
- Identification and validation of biomarkers
- Assessment of therapeutic approaches
- Drug transport and effect studies
- Assessment of the influence of the exposome and related toxicity
Publications: