Amber Louwagie
Doctoral Fellow - Pediatric Precision Oncology Lab Ghent - Center for Medical Genetics (UGent)
Principal investigator: prof. Frank Speleman (PhD)
Research focus
Neuroblastoma (NB) is an embryonal childhood tumor arising from progenitor cells that give rise to the peripheral nervous system. About half of all high-risk NBs die of their disease thus novel more effective and less toxic treatments are urgently needed. NBs show very few mutations but present with a typical recurrent pattern of gains or losses of chromosomal segments. These copy number changes are assumed to affect dosage effects for proteins contributing to tumor formation and/or progression.
My research focusses on transcription factors (TFs) and epigenetic rewiring driving transcriptional addiction in neuroblastoma. In my project, I have continued ongoing research on the highly expressed SOX11 protein with particular focus on the detailed mapping of SOX11 direct binding sites to unravel its role as putative core regulatory transcription factor as well as possible pioneering activity. Moreover, I have established the SOX11 interactome in several cell lines and will study the role of SOX11 interaction partners in SOX11 functionality. Given that SOX11 acts as a major NB specific dependency factor, deeper understanding of its function is expected to provide insights towards novel drugging approaches.
Biography
I obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology (KU Leuven, 2016), after which I obtained a Master Degree in Biochemistry with a major in Molecular and Cellular Genetics (LMU München, 2018).
For my master thesis, I went to the lab of Prof. Jürg Schwaller (UKBB Basel), where I focused on the molecular mechanism driving acute erythroid leukemia.
After my master thesis, I started a PhD (October 2018, Kom op tegen Kanker Fellowship; October 2019, Aspirant fundamenteel onderzoek FWO) at the lab of Prof. Speleman, where I investigate the transcription factors (TFs) and epigenetic rewiring driving transcriptional addiction in neuroblastoma.
Contact & links
- Lab address: Center for Medical Genetics Ghent (CMGG), Medical Research Building 1 (MRB1), campus UZ Gent, (entrance 34), Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Speleman Lab
- Center for Medical Genetics Ghent
- Kom op tegen Kanker
- FWO
- Amber Louwagie is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks