KU Leuven
(Co-ordinator)
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Prof. Dr. Pieter Vanden Berghe:
Prof. Dr. Pieter Vanden Berghe is the head of the Lab for Enteric NeuroScience (LENS) in the Chrometa department of KU Leuven. The lab is part of TARGID (Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders) that integrates gastrointestinal research over a broad spectrum, ranging from cellular assays over physiological tests in isolated organs and animal experiments to trials in healthy volunteers and patients with GI disorders. Prof. Vanden Berghe obtained his PhD in Leuven and did a postdoc in the University of Nevada and the Max-Planck institute in Göttingen. After postdoc stays abroad he became an independent PI at the LENS. The LENS mission is to understand how the enteric nervous system functions in normal and pathophysiological conditions and as the lab acronym suggests we mainly use (live) microscopic techniques to image different aspects of communication among enteric nerves and between nerves and glial cells physiological and pathophysiological conditions. He also became the spokesperson and scientific coordinator of the CIC (Cell Imaging Core – Impulse financing 2004). Within the research field of neurogastroenterology, microscopic imaging has become a crucial and essential tool to investigate the function of the enteric nervous system resulting a several recent high impact (Science, eLife , JCI, Gut, Am.J.Gastro) publications.
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Professor Dr. Tomi Laurila:
Professor Dr. Tomi Laurila received the DSc. degree (with honours) in electronics production technology from the Helsinki University of Technology in 2001. The thesis was focused on the solid-state reactions in different metal/silicon systems and development of feasible diffusion barriers to be used in Cu metallized IC’s. At the moment he is Associate Professor in the field of Microsystem technology and holds an adjunct professorship on Electronics Reliability and Manufacturing. Presently his research involves the study of interfacial reactions between dissimilar materials used in microsystems, biocompatibility issues related to different types of materials and electrochemical measurements of neurotransmitters from the brain. He has published extensively on the thermodynamic-kinetic analysis of interfacial reactions and issues related to reliability testing of electronic devices. Prof. Laurila is also responsible for the teaching of material science, electronics reliability and bioadaptive technology to under- and post-graduate as well as postdoctoral students.