dr. Valerie De Meulenaere (PhD)
Postdoctoral researcher - Department of Radiology, Ghent University Hospital
Principal investigator: prof. Karel Deblaere (PhD)
Research focus
My research is focused on the preclinical evaluation of targeted therapeutic strategies in glioblastoma (GB), using multimodal imaging. GB is the most common and malignant glial tumor of the central nervous system and is associated with a poor prognosis.
Despite standard medical treatment that consists of surgical resection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the median patient survival is 12.1-14.6 months and only 3-5% of the patients survive for three years or longer. Recent advances in therapeutic strategies have improved patient outcome, but despite these efforts, GB still remains a clinical challenge. Consequently, there is an urgent demand for novel therapeutic strategies to improve survival outcome. Target-based therapeutics are promising for GB as they aim to precisely inhibit molecular pathways that are critical to tumor growth and maintenance, while sparing healthy tissue.
Our research group is currently investigating two target-based therapeutics for GB in the F98 rat model. The first therapeutic strategy targets connexin-mediated communication essential in the microenvironment, pathogenesis and therapeutic resistance of GB. The second therapeutic strategy is prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) - targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT).
Contact & links
- Lab address: Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Gent
- Involved in INFINITY: the preclinical core imaging facility of Ghent University providing multi-modality imaging services
- Valerie De Meulenaere is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks