dr. Anneleen Decock (PhD)

The discovery that cancer cells release their content into the bloodstream has opened vast opportunities for characterizing cancer without the need for invasive procedures, as a simple blood draw can now detect and analyze cancer cells. While circulating DNA molecules have long been used, extracellular RNA (cell-free RNA, exRNA) has recently emerged as a promising analyte. To advance the exRNA research field and deliver innovations in biomarker research with the ultimate goal of improving cancer patients’ outcomes, my research addresses important open questions on the biology of tumor-derived exRNA in liquid biopsies. Key aspects include investigating how tumor burden impacts tumor exRNA detection sensitivity, how exRNA levels evolve during disease course, treatment and follow-up, how and to what extent tumor-derived exRNAs are protected from degradation in the blood, and what their half-lives are in circulation. Sequencing-based technologies are applied to profile liquid biopsies from cancer xenograft models and patients.
 

• 2016-present: Postdoctoral researcher at OncoRNALab (Ghent University)
• 2010-2016: PhD in Health Sciences (Ghent University)
• 2005-2010: MSc Biomedical Sciences - major Neurosciences (Ghent University)
  
  SUPPORTING GRANTS:
• 2024-present: FWO senior postdoctoral fellowship grant and grant of the Suzanne Duchesne Fund
• 2020-2024: FWO junior postdoctoral fellowship grant
• 2017-2020: BOF postdoctoral fellowship grant
• 2016-2017: Bridge fund from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (Ghent University)
• 2015-2016: Emmanuel Van der Schueren research grant of VLK
• 2011-2015: FWO PhD fellowship grant
   

• Subpar reporting of pre-analytical variables in RNA-focused blood plasma studies. Molecular Oncology, online ahead of print, 2024.
• Exploration of neuroblastoma xenograft models for tumor extracellular RNA profiling in murine blood plasma. ExRNA, 5(2):0007, 2023. 
• Benchmarking blood collection tubes and processing intervals for extracellular vesicle performance metrics. Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, 12(5):e12315, 2023.
• Digital PCR-based evaluation of nucleic acid extraction kit performance for the co-purification of cell-free DNA and RNA. Hum Genomics 16(1):73, 2022. 
• Whole transcriptome profiling of liquid biopsies from tumour xenografted mouse models enables specific monitoring of tumour-derived extracellular RNA. NAR Cancer 4(4):zcac037, 2022. 
• mRNA capture sequencing and RT-qPCR for the detection of pathognomonic, novel, and secondary fusion transcripts in FFPE tissue: a sarcoma showcase. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23(19):11007, 2022. 
• Messenger RNA capture sequencing of extracellular RNA from human biofluids using a comprehensive set of spike-in controls. STAR protocols 2(2):100475, 2021.
• Performance assessment of total RNA sequencing of human biofluids and extracellular vesicles. Scientific Reports 9(1):17574, 2019. 
• Long noncoding RNA expression profiling in cancer: challenges and opportunities. Genes, Chromosomes and Cancer 58(4):191-199, 2019. 
• Circulating microRNA biomarkers for metastatic disease in neuroblastoma patients. JCI Insight 3(23):e97021, 2018.
• Stage 4S neuroblastoma tumors show a characteristic DNA methylation portrait. Epigenetics 11(10):761-771, 2016.
• MYCN and HDAC5 transcriptionally repress CD9 to trigger an invasion-metastasis cascade in neuroblastoma. Oncotarget 7(41): 66344-66359, 2016. 
• DNA methylation profiling of primary neuroblastoma tumors using methyl-CpG-binding domain sequencing. Scientific Data 3:160004, 2016.
• Methyl-CpG-binding domain sequencing reveals a prognostic methylation signature in neuroblastoma. Oncotarget 7(2):1960-1972, 2016. 
• Genome-wide promoter methylation analysis in neuroblastoma identifies prognostic methylation biomarkers. Genome Biology 13(10):R95, 2012.
• Neuroblastoma epigenetics: from candidate gene approaches to genome-wide screenings. Epigenetics 6(8):962-970, 2011. 
   

• postal and laboratory address: Medical Research Building 1 (MRB1) (entrance 34)
• office address: The Core, room 130.006 (entrance 37a)
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