dr. Els Janssens (PhD)
Laboratory Manager, Scientific co-worker - Lab for paediatric oncogenomics, Center for Medical Genetics (UGent)
Principal investigator: prof. Frank Speleman (PhD)
Research focus
Neuroblastoma (NB) is a devastating childhood tumor of the peripheral nervous system. Poor survival rates warrant development of more efficient and less toxic treatment. One of the aberrations that is frequently observed (80% of the cases) is gain of 17q, which is also correlated with poor survival. Despite intensive research, up till today it is still not clear which genes on 17q are important for the development of neuroblastoma. By using copy number data and transcriptomics data of 200 neuroblastoma patients we were able to identify genes on 17q that are strongly correlated with patient survival. These genes are now tested in a zebrafish model to see if they accelerate neuroblastoma onset and development. Next to that several in vitro assays are also performed to study the effect of the gene on cell survival, proliferation and cell cycle.
Biography
- 2003-2005: Lab Technician at VIB Leuven
- 2005-2008: Senior Lab Technician at VIB Leuven
- 2008-2012: PhD student at Biology Department KU Leuven
- 2013-present: Scientific Coworker at CMGG
Contact & links
- Lab address: Center for Medical Genetics Ghent (CMGG), Medical Research Building 1 (MRB1), entrance 34, campus UZ Gent, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Speleman lab
- Center for Medical Genetics Ghent