Upper Airways Research Laboratory (URL)

Background and research focus

Background

The Upper Airways Research Laboratory (URL) was established by Prof. C. Bachert in 1997 to structure basic scientific and translational research in the area of immunology of the nose and sinuses.

Since then, the URL grew to the internationally known and leading research laboratory for airway immunology, specifically allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyposis. The URL also focuses on bacterial and viral infections of the airway mucosa, including SARS-CoV2 infections.

Research focus

The URL investigates immunological aspects of airway inflammation in animal and human cell models, established human ex-vivo models of airway disease and performs translational studies in patients to develop approaches from “bench to bedside”.

The disease of our patients is the focus of our lab. We aim to understand the pathomechanisms, differentiate disease phenotypes, develop therapeutic approaches and translate them into clinical studies.

Examples for this approach are the first description of IL-5 as an important mediator in nasal polyp disease to the successful performance of anti-IL5 humanized monoclonal antibody studies, from the discovery of Staphylococcus aureus specific IgE antibodies to successful anti-IgE treatment. The combination of translational research (URL) with clinical research in the Clinical Trial Center (CTC) is an optimal setting.

Members

Professors and Guest Professors

Philippe Gevaert

Peter Hellings

Stijn Vanhee (contact person)

Thibaut Van Zele

Postdoctoral researchers

PhD candidates

Manon Blauwblomme

Jozefien Declercq (Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics)

Pauline Janssens

Ellen ketelaere

Inés Lammens (Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics)

Elke Vandewalle

Technical staff

Natalie De Ruyck

Gabriële Holtappels

National and international collaborations

Prof. Bachert performs research in collaboration with Prof. B. Bröker, University of Greifswald, Prof. B. Lambrecht, VIB Ghent, Prof. L.O. Cardell, Karolinska Institute Stockholm, Prof. J. Bousquet, University of Montpellier, Prof. NG Papadopoulos, University of Manchester, and many more. Prof. Bachert also holds a professorship at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and at the Sun-Yat Sen University, Guangzhou, China.

The lab received support from a wide range of national (FWO, IUAP, BOF, and GOA) and international research funds (European Union FP6 GA2LEN, FP7 MedAll and Predicta). Furthermore, there is support from pharmaceutical companies in connection with clinical and translational studies (e.g. GSK, MSD, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, ALK, Sterna Biologicals, Biotech Tools and many others).