Anneleen Schellaert
Doctoral fellow – Host-Microbiota Interaction lab – Inflammation Research Center VIB-UGent (Department Internal Medicine & Pediatrics)– Ghent-Gut-Inflammation-Group (GGIG)
Principal investigator: prof. Lars Vereecke (PhD)
Research focus
I am part of the Host-Microbiota Interaction (HMI) lab, which investigates how the microbial communities living in and on our bodies keep us healthy or contribute to disease. My work centers on colorectal cancer (CRC), a major global health burden whose incidence keeps climbing in Western societies. By combining germ-free and gnotobiotic mouse technology with specialized CRC mouse models, we try to pinpoint the microbial factors that shape when and how easily colorectal tumors develop.
I support research on pks+ E. coli, gut bacteria whose toxin, colibactin, damages DNA and is tied to earlier-onset colorectal cancer. My colleague Dr. Maude Jans already showed that these bacteria only cause this damage when they anchor themselves to the colon wall via the adhesins FimH and FmlH. Next, we want to learn when and why these bacteria become harmful, including whether exposure early in life affects cancer risk decades later. By clarifying when these bacteria turn harmful, we also hope to explore anti-adhesive therapies. Rather than killing the bacteria with antibiotics, such treatments would offer a more targeted way to prevent or limit their contribution to colorectal cancer.
Biography
- Master of Science in Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Contact & links
- Lab address: Host-Microbiota Interaction lab (HMI), VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Host-Microbiota-Interaction lab
- Anneleen Schellaert & the Host-Microbiota-Interaction lab can provide services regarding Germ-Free and Gnotobiotic Mouse Facility Ghent
- Anneleen Schellaert is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks