Team

Lieve Moons (PhD) is head of the Neural Circuit Development and Regeneration Research Group (Biology Department) and has more than 20 years of experience in detailed phenotyping of animal disease models for cardiovascular, neurological and ocular disorders. Her group has a strong interest in defining the cellular/molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, -inflammation and -regeneration in the visual system of both zebrafish and mice, and her particular expertise in rodent models for optic neuropathies and retinopathies is fundamental to the platform.

Lies De Groef (MSc, PhD) is heading the Cellular Communication and Neurodegeneration research group, within the Animal Physiology and Neurobiology division of the KU Leuven Biology department. She has a deep interest in neurobiology and ophthalmology research, and is an expert in preclinical models of neurodegenerative diseases, morphological phenotyping of the rodent visual system, in vivo retinal imaging and electrophysiology. Following her PhD at KU Leuven, she completed a one-year postdoctoral training in the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London (London, UK), which allowed her to expand her expertise in retinal imaging, electrophysiology and visual behavior testing in rodents, and in ocular drug delivery. In 2017, she returned to the KU Leuven Biology department, where she established a new research program focusing on the retinal manifestations of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Wolfram disease. By studying the retina-brain axis, she aims to unravel mechanisms of intercellulartransport and communication in the central nervous system, and increase our understanding of these interactions both under physiological conditions and in the context of neurodegeneration.

Ingeborg Stalmans (MD, PhD) heads the Laboratory of Ophthalmology (Department of Neurosciences) as well as the Glaucoma Unit of the University Hospital in Leuven (UZ Leuven). Her research involves the use of different mouse and rabbit models of glaucoma and glaucoma filtration surgery, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR), together with clinical follow-up and microscopic analysis of central diseases processes such as inflammation, angiogenesis and fibrosis. Her experience with different ocular pathologies and strong connections with UZ Leuven, allow her to translate new therapies developed in the lab into clinical practice by setting up investigator initiated clinical trials.

Lut Arckens (PhD) is head of the Neuroplasticity and Neuroproteomics Research Group (Biology Department) and is one of a few researchers world-wide that guides a lab where molecular, cellular and circuit investigations are run in parallel. Her team has reknown expertise in functional proteomics (including method development), brain-wide molecular activity mapping, electrophysiology, and behavioral assays. The primary goal of her lab is to disentangle the fundamental principles of brain plasticity upon vision loss in adulthood and her expertise in visual neuroscience is instrumental to the platform.

Stephane Heymans (MD, PhD) belongs to the Center for Molecular and Vascular Biology (Department of Cardiovascular Sciences). His team focuses on various cardiovascular pathologies linked to the metabolic syndrome (diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and obesity) and its co-morbidities, including cardiac, vascular and ocular diseases. Translational work, with a continuous interaction between human studies and preclinical studies, allows his team to investigate common mechanisms in the pathophysiology of cardiac and ocular diseases, inflammation, angiogenesis and fibrosis.