Graduate Students
Maxime Tixhon
Visiting Graduate Student
Education
BSc, Institut Paul Lambin, 2015
MSc, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 2020
Contact info
[email protected]
Thanks to the rise of next generation sequencing technologies, the last few decades have produced an enormous catalog of human genomic variants. These efforts bring amazing opportunities to unravel the wonders of molecular biology and revolutionize human genetics. The widespread use of genome and exome sequencing has enabled the scientific community to identify variants present in individuals affected with disease with greater and greater frequency. However, understanding which and how these variants lead to disease is still an on-going challenge. Linking genotype to phenotype is one of the main approaches to deepen our knowledge of biology.
One can think about molecular biology in terms of interactions. Gene products, proteins, interact with each other to create a vast intricate network of biophysical interactions, or so-called “interactome”. Assessing the effects of variants on this interactome has already proved useful to shed light on their role in Mendelian diseases. Still, a lot of diseases are complex, or polygenic, involving a huge number of genes, making it more challenging to functionalize variants.
Autism Spectrum Disorders are a group of neurodevelopmental diseases that affect 2.5% of the worldwide population. It’s a heterogeneous disease that can impose a heavy on the affected individuals as well as caretakers. My graduate project will focus on functionalizing ASD-related variants, generating comparative profiles of protein stability and the ability to mediate macromolecular interactions with protein partners. These profiles will enhance both our ability to identify true disease-causing variants and provide insight into the underlying disease mechanisms to lead the way for new and better diagnostic and classification tools as well as novel therapeutic approaches.
Visiting Graduate Student
Education
BSc, Institut Paul Lambin, 2015
MSc, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 2020
Contact info
[email protected]
Thanks to the rise of next generation sequencing technologies, the last few decades have produced an enormous catalog of human genomic variants. These efforts bring amazing opportunities to unravel the wonders of molecular biology and revolutionize human genetics. The widespread use of genome and exome sequencing has enabled the scientific community to identify variants present in individuals affected with disease with greater and greater frequency. However, understanding which and how these variants lead to disease is still an on-going challenge. Linking genotype to phenotype is one of the main approaches to deepen our knowledge of biology.
One can think about molecular biology in terms of interactions. Gene products, proteins, interact with each other to create a vast intricate network of biophysical interactions, or so-called “interactome”. Assessing the effects of variants on this interactome has already proved useful to shed light on their role in Mendelian diseases. Still, a lot of diseases are complex, or polygenic, involving a huge number of genes, making it more challenging to functionalize variants.
Autism Spectrum Disorders are a group of neurodevelopmental diseases that affect 2.5% of the worldwide population. It’s a heterogeneous disease that can impose a heavy on the affected individuals as well as caretakers. My graduate project will focus on functionalizing ASD-related variants, generating comparative profiles of protein stability and the ability to mediate macromolecular interactions with protein partners. These profiles will enhance both our ability to identify true disease-causing variants and provide insight into the underlying disease mechanisms to lead the way for new and better diagnostic and classification tools as well as novel therapeutic approaches.
Yasmine Brammerloo
Visiting Graduate Student
Education
BSc, Hasselt University, 2018
MSc, Antwerp University, 2020
PhD, University of Liège, Present
Contact info
[email protected]
Visiting Graduate Student
Education
BSc, Hasselt University, 2018
MSc, Antwerp University, 2020
PhD, University of Liège, Present
Contact info
[email protected]