Blog Post
Geert Carmeliet • 29 July 2021

Claire-Sophie Devignes was awarded a 2-year Marie Sklodowka-Curie postdoc fellowship.

A great honor for Claire-Sophie Devignes, who was awarded a 2-year Marie Sklodowka-Curie postdoc fellowship. Claire-Sophie received this highly competitive European grant for her exciting project proposal on metabolic regulation of bone metastasis (META2 project – IF 841199)

 

Abstract of the project:

Triple negative breast cancer cells (TNBC) metastasize to the bone, resulting in progressive bone destruction and severe complications for the patient. TNBC colonize the bone already much earlier, but they often stay dormant for several years and remain undetectable. Recent studies showed that at this early stage, TNBC cells are in close proximity to bone-forming cells (osteoblasts), and this interaction promotes TNBC survival and proliferation. Interestingly, recent findings also indicate that the metabolism of tumor cells not only drives primary tumor growth, but also determines which cells will metastasize to lung or liver, indicating metabolic interactions of TNBC with their microenvironment. This concept may also apply to TNBC in bone, but insight in the metabolism of TNBC colonizing the bone is lacking. We hypothesize that to survive and thrive in the bone TNBC cells rely on a specific profile that is complementary in nutrient needs to osteoblasts. Thus, our objective is to characterize the metabolism of TNBC in bone at early time points and to validate that targeting this metabolism will limit or prevent bone metastasis. To this end, we will combine metabolomics and transcriptomics on in vivo and in vitro models to identify important metabolic enzymes that will then be validated in in vivo models and human samples. This better understanding of the metabolism of TNBC in the bone is essential for the development of new diagnostic tools and therapeutic targets.

 

Two new publications by the MeBoDD lab

by Steve Stegen • 26 March 2024
The MeBoDD lab recently published two manuscripts! In the first, Shauni Loopmans and colleagues investigated how culturing skeletal stem and progenitors in hypoxia rewires their metabolic profile. This study was published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, and you can read it here: https://academic.oup.com/jbmr/article/39/2/150/7516972?login=true . Congratulations!  In the second, published in Nature Reviews in Endocrinology, we provide an overview of the current knowledge on skeletal cell metabolism and how it regulates their function during bone development and disease. For more reading: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41574-024-00969-x

Presentation Karina Geurtzen at ECTS 2023 and Keystone Tumor Metabolism 2024

by Steve Stegen • 12 February 2024
The abstract of Karina Geurtzen was selected for a plenary oral presentation at the 2023 ECTS meeting in Liverpool, UK and at 2024 Keystone Symposium on Tumor Metabolism in Banff, Canada. Here, she presented how mitochondrial respiration in breast tumor cells drives bone metastasis. Congratulations!!

Publication on the importance of the serine synthesis pathway for osteoclast differentiation

by Steve Stegen • 10 January 2024
Congratulations to Steve Stegen, who published his work on the role of de novo serine synthesis for osteoclastogenesis in Nature Metabolism. In this study, we could show that transient activation of the serine synthesis pathway during the early phases of osteoclast differentiation is necessary to generate a-ketoglutarate, which is subsequently used for epigenetic regulation of NFATc1 expression. You can read the article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-023-00948-y

FWO and C1 internal funding for the MeBoDD lab

by Steve Stegen • 16 December 2023
In 2023, the lab received funding for two new research projects. In the first project, funded by the Research Foundation-Flanders (‘Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek’ – FWO), we will investigate in collaboration with the lab of prof. Vanessa Dubois (UGhent) the effect of gender-affirming therapy, started during early puberty, on liver and bone. In the second project, funded by an internal grant by the KU Leuven (Special Research Fund), we will investigate whether and how metabolic changes in skeletal progenitors underlie the osteo-adipogenic switch that is observed during osteoporotic bone loss. We thank the funding agencies for their generous support and are looking forward to the exciting new insights that these projects will generate!

New members in the MeBoDD lab

by Steve Stegen • 1 March 2023
We welcome Karina Guertzen, Bethan Davies, Lore Rosseels and Annabel Müller to the lab! Karina will work on the metabolic reprogramming in bone-metastasizing breast cancer cells, Bethan will investigate the metabolic rewiring in skeletal progenitors during metabolic bone disease, Lore will study the role of glucose metabolism in skeletal progenitors during bone development and repair, and Annabel will investigate the impact of anti-obesity drugs on bone metabolism.

Farewell

by Steve Stegen • 23 February 2023
Claire-Sophie Devignes, Shauni Loopmans, Guillaume Tournaire, Sophie Torrekens and Sisir Kumar Barik have all found exciting new (scientific) challenges. Good luck with your new projects and we wish you all the best!

PhD defense Shauni

by Steve Stegen • 21 February 2023
Big congratulations to Shauni Loopmans, now also known as Dr. Loopmans, for defending her PhD thesis entitled ‘Understanding chondrocyte metabolism and its applications for bone tissue engineering’! Thank you to the jury members Ernestina Schipani, Martina Rauner, Rik Lories and Guy Eelen for challenging Shauni and making this a great interactive defense.

Bone cells in space

by Steve Stegen • 26 November 2022
In collaboration with the European Space Agency, a delegation of the MeBoDD lab traveled to Florida (2022) to send osteoblastic cells to the International Space Station. Upon their return to earth, we will investigate the impact of space conditions on bone cell metabolism and behavior.

New group leader at the Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology lab

by Steve Stegen • 1 October 2022
As of October 1 st 2022, our postdoc Steve Stegen will start his own research group at the Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology Unit. His research will focus on the metabolic crosstalk of skeletal cells and how this is altered during pathology. We wish him the best of luck and look forward continuing our collaboration in the future!

MeBoDD representation at Gordon Research Seminar/Conference on Bones and Teeth 2022

by Steve Stegen • 17 September 2022
The studies of Shauni Loopmans (poster) and Steve Stegen (oral presentation) will be presented at the Gordon Research Seminar/Conference on Bones and Teeth 2022 in Ventura, California. As a co-chair, Shauni was involved in organizing the Gordon Research Seminar, and we look very much forward to this exciting meeting.
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