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Bart De Strooper, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor and VIB Researcher at KU Leuven, Belgium, and University College London, England

 

Bart De Strooper is a professor of molecular medicine at the University of Leuven and University College London. He leads research groups at the VIB Centre for Brain and Disease research in Leuven, Belgium,  and at the Crick Institute in London.

Bart De Strooper’s scientific work is focused on the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that underlie Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. His major finding is the identification of gamma-secretase and its role in the proteolysis of the amyloid precursor protein and in Notch signaling, for which he received the Brain Prize 2018 together with Hardy, Goedert and Haass. Recently he has reoriented his work to the understanding of the cellular phase of Alzheimer’s disease. His aim is to understand the mechanisms of resilience that make that some people survive into very old age with the biochemical signs of Alzheimer’s Disease but without the symptoms of dementia.

He received his M.D. in 1985 and Ph.D. in 1991 from KU Leuven. He did a postdoc in the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, in the laboratory of Carlos Dotti. Apart from the Brain Prize, Bart De Strooper received the Potamkin Award of the American Academy of Neurology in 2002, the 2003 Alois Alzheimer Award of the Deutscher Gesellschaft für Gerontopsychiatrie und psychotherapie, the Joseph Maisin Prize in 2005 for fundamental biomedical sciences and the 2008 Metlife Foundation Award for medical research among other prizes. He is Commander in the Order of Leopold (Belgian national honorary order), an elected EMBO member (European Molecular Biology Organisation) and an elected member of the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK.

He has published close to 400 papers with an h-index of 121 and is recognized as a highly cited researcher in 2018, 2019 and 2020 (Clarivate, Web of Science Group).   Expertscape considers him World Expert in Alzheimer’s disease (no 8 worldwide), Presenilins (no1 worldwide) and Amyloid beta-Peptides (no 4 worldwide).

 

To learn more, visit the De Strooper’s lab social media page.

Related Research:

Identifying Mediators of Tau-Mediated Neuronal Necroptosis Using an Innovative In Vivo CRISPR Screen Bart De Strooper Sriram Balusu 2023-12-08 Novel Entry Routes for Therapeutic Biologicals to the Brain Maarten Dewilde Bart De Strooper 2020-12-18 Nanobodies to Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier Bart De Strooper Maarten Dewilde 2016-09-01

Funded Research

These projects were made possible from Cure Alzheimer's Fund support.

Project Description Researchers Funding
Identifying Mediators of Tau-Mediated Neuronal Necroptosis Using an Innovative In Vivo CRISPR Screen 2023

$230,000
Novel Entry Routes for Therapeutic Biologicals to the Brain 2020, 2022

$345,000
Nanobodies to Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier 2016, 2017

$300,000

Selected Publications

These published papers resulted from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund support.

Schmidt, A., Hrupka, B., van Bebber, F., Sunil Kumar, S., Feng, X., Tschirner, S. K., Aßfalg, M., Müller, S. A., Hilger, L. S., Hofmann, L. I., Pigoni, M., Jocher, G., Voytyuk, I., Self, E. L., Ito, M., Hyakkoku, K., Yoshimura, A., Horiguchi, N., Feederle, R., De Strooper, B., … Lichtenthaler, S. F. The Alzheimer’s disease-linked protease BACE2 cleaves VEGFR3 and modulates its signaling, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, June 18, 2024, Read More

Balusu, S., & De Strooper, B. The necroptosis cell death pathway drives neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, Acta Neuropathologica, June 9, 2024, Read More

McDade, E., Voytyuk, I., Aisen, P., Bateman, R. J., Carrillo, M. C., De Strooper, B., Haass, C., Reiman, E. M., Sperling, R., Tariot, P. N., Yan, R., Masters, C. L., Vassar, R., & Lichtenthaler, S. F. The case for low-level BACE1 inhibition for the prevention of Alzheimer disease, Nature Reviews Neurology, September 21, 2021, Read More

Benitez, D. P., Jiang, S., Wood, J., Wang, R., Hall, C. M., Peerboom, C., Wong, N., Stringer, K. M., Vitanova, K. S., Smith, V. C., Joshi, D., Saito, T., Saido, T. C., Hardy, J., Hanrieder, J., De Strooper, B., Salih, D. A., Tripathi, T., Edwards, F. A., & Cummings, D. M. Knock-in models related to Alzheimer’s disease: synaptic transmission, plaques and the role of microglia, Molecular Neurodegeneration, July 15, 2021, Read More

Wouters, Y., Jaspers, T., De Strooper, B., & Dewilde, M. Identification and in vivo characterization of a brain-penetrating nanobody, Fluids and Barriers of the CNS, October 14, 2020, Read More

Rué, L., Jaspers, T., Degors, I. M. S., Noppen, S., Schols, D., De Strooper, B., & Dewilde, M. Novel Human/Non-Human Primate Cross-Reactive Anti-Transferrin Receptor Nanobodies for Brain Delivery of Biologics, Pharmaceutics, June 16, 2023, Read More

Schoonaert, L., Rué, L., Roucourt, B., Timmers, M., Little, S., Chávez-Gutiérrez, L., Dewilde, M., Joyce, P., Curnock, A., Weber, P., Haustraete, J., Hassanzadeh-Ghassabeh, G., De Strooper, B., Van Den Bosch, L., Van Damme, P., Lemmens, R., & Robberecht, W. Identification and characterization of nanobodies targeting the EphA4 receptor, Journal of Biological Chemistry, July 7, 2017, Read More

Wouters, Y., Jaspers, T., Rué, L., Serneels, L., De Strooper, B., & Dewilde, M. VHHs as tools for therapeutic protein delivery to the central nervous system, Fluids and Barriers of the CNS, October 3, 2022, Read More

Paolicelli, R. C., Sierra, A., Stevens, B., et al. Microglia states and nomenclature: A field at its crossroads, Neuron, November 2, 2022, Read More

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