IBMM : roles of lipid rafts and ubiquitin
A further step by the group of Bruno André (IBMM, Molecular Cell Physiology Laboratory) towards the elucidation of the concerted roles of lipid rafts and ubiquitin in the trafficking of membrane proteins.[more]

BioWin : operational unit and interface
The BioWin operational unit is setting up. Projects for the second call must be returned before the 15th June.[more]

IMI : Marie Curie European Re-Integration Grant
Fabienne Willems and David Vermijlen have been awarded a Marie-Curie Re-Integration Grant on interactions between human denditric cells and γT cells/NK cells in neonates. [more]

IBMM : new PhD
Guillaume Oldenhove (Immunology Laboratory) and Frédéric Bury (Molecular Embryology Laboratory) have completed their PhD degree at the IBMM.[more]

DNAVision : Creation's Talent
DNAVision has received the 2006 start-up prize from "Creation's Talent".[more]

IMI : a new research agreement between IMI and OM-Pharma
The IMI and OM-Pharma have signed a new research agreement to further explore the potential of OM products as vaccine adjuvants.[more]

Euroscreen receives key patent for purinergic receptor
Euroscreen announces US Patent on Human P2Y11 Receptor[more]

IMI : award from the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine
Stanislas Goriely (IMI) has been award-winner from the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine.[more]

IBMM : roles of lipid rafts and ubiquitin

The Molecular Cell Physiology lab of Pr. Bruno André (IBMM) uses the general amino acid permease Gap1 of yeast as a model system to explore the molecular mechanisms governing the regulation of trafficking of membrane proteins in general.

Previous work in this lab has revealed the crucial role of ubiquitin as a signal triggering the endocytosis of the protein and its subsequent sorting into the multivesicular bodies of the cell. The ubiquitin-ligase enzyme catalyzing the ubiquitination of the Gap1 permease (Npi1/Rsp5) is a prototype of the Nedd4-type enzymes involved in ubiquitination of many membrane proteins in mammalian cells.

Elsa Lauwers (a graduate PhD student supported by the FNRS) has now explored the potential role of lipidic microdomains enriched in sphingolipids and ergosterol (called "rafts") in the traffic of Gap1. It is generally admitted that while some proteins of the yeast plasma membrane are located within rafts, others are not. The data of Elsa Lauwers challenge this view and rather suggest that yeast membrane transporters are systematically associated within rafts when located at the plasma membrane. She also found that sphingolipids play a crucial role in Gap1 trafficking. Her results are compatible with a model where Gap1 would associate with sphingolipids which would be important for stabilisation of the permease at the cell surface, possibly by preventing its ubiquitination.

These results will soon appear in the journal Traffic ("Association of Yeast Transporters with Detergent-Resistant Membranes Correlates with Their Cell-Surface Location" by Lauwers E. and André B., Traffic 2006, in press - accessible at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/tra/0/0;jsessionid=cznp7NqjziM-v9BGeU).

BioWin : operational unit and interface

The BioWin operational unit is setting up. For universities, Dominique Demonté is in charge of coordinating the academic interfaces activities for BioWin. Each interface continues being responsible for valorisation of activities of its laboratories. We remind you that projects for the second call BioWin must be returned before 15th June 2006.

More information on www.biowin.org or by contacting Dominique Demonté (ddemonte@ulb.ac.be).

IMI : Marie Curie European Re-Integration Grant

Fabienne Willems and David Vermijlen have been awarded a Marie-Curie Re-Integration Grant on interactions between human denditric cells and γT cells/NK cells in neonates.

This grant is intended to support the return in Belgium of David Vermijlen further to his post-doctoral fellowship at the laboratory of Prof. Adrian Hayday at the Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, King's College London (UK).

The primary objective of this project is to identify strategies that might overcome the inability of neonatal DC to produce bioactive interleukin-12. It will contribute to the development of new adjuvants able to induce efficient vaccine responses in human newborns.

IBMM : new PhD

Guillaume Oldenhove (IBMM, Immunology Laboratory) successfully completed his PhD degree. The objective of his thesis was to understand the role played by regulating cells in the control of the immune response.

First, he demonstrated that "natural" regulating T cells control the range of responses Th1, induced by adoptive transfer of mature DC and loaded with antigen of foreign origin. He then observed in vivo the role played by CTLA-4 receptor when there is an immune response induced by transfert of mature DC. At last, he studied the role of regulating cells in the development of anti-tumoral resistance.

Frédéric Bury (IBMM, Molecular Embryology Laboratory) successfully also completed his PhD degree. He carried out his thesis on the characterization of the BTBD6 gene. His results showed that BTBD6 which is expressed during Xenopus primary neurogenesis encodes a Cullin-3 interacting protein that may function as a substrate receptor for CUL3 ubiquitin ligases and plays a role in postmitotic neurons in the control of neurite outgrowth.

DNAVision : Creation's Talent

DNAVision has received the 2006 start-up prize from "Creation's Talent". The spin-off has been awarded with the 2006 start-up prize from during the XVIe Enterprise Show organised by the "Haute Ecole provinciale Mons Borinage Centre - catégorie Economie". Three years ago Henogen received this prize.

IMI : a new research agreement between IMI and OM-Pharma

As a part of a long-standing collaboration, the IMI and OM-Pharma (Meyrin, Switzerland) have signed in May 2006 a new research agreement to explore the potential of OM products as vaccine adjuvants further.

Euroscreen receives key patent for purinergic receptor

Euroscreen SA is awarded a US patent that covers the use of a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) known as the human P2Y11 receptor. Euroscreen's patent protects the sequence of P2Y11 receptor and research tools comprising this sequence.

The P2Y11 receptor was cloned and characterized by Didier Communi as part of the team of Professor Jean-Marie Boeynaems at the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research (IRIBHM) of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. This group has shown that the activation of the P2Y11 receptor leads to the differenciation of human promyelocytic leukemia cells into neutrophil-like cells, suggesting that P2Y11 agonists might be used for the treatment of some forms of leukemia. In addition, its role in neutrophil maturation makes it a potential target for the treatment of neutropenia.

Commenting on the announcement, Jean Combalbert, President and CEO of Euroscreen, said : "This new US patent represents a significant addition to our growing portfolio in the field of purinergic receptors. It will enable Euroscreen to generate revenues from companies wishing to use the human P2Y11 receptor in their search for innovative drugs, in the form of licence fees and milestone in the short term, and royalties on sales of any products generated in the longer term".

The US patent (7,045,345) relates in particular to DNA sequence of P2Y11 receptor, vectors comprising the DNA sequence and cells comprising the vector.

Euroscreen has already obtained a similar European patent and is awaiting the issuance of equivalent patent applications in Japan and Canada, whose pending claims relate to similar subject matter.

IMI : award from the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine

Stanislas Goriely, chargé de recherches of the FNRS will receive the prize Alvarengha de Piauhy from the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine for his studies on the molecular basis of the immunological immaturity of the human newborn. Stanislas Goriely recently identified together with Ezra Aksoy, Valentina Albarani, Muriel Nguyen, Dominique Dewit and Fabienne Willems a defect in the activation of the IRF3 transcription factor involved in the synthesis of interleukin-12 and interferon-beta. This defect might be responsible for impaired responses to vaccines and development of allergic disorders in early life.