Bart graduated as a Master in Biology: Cell & Systems Biology at the University of Antwerp in 2013. Currently he is a third year PhD Student in Systems Biology, Bio-informatics and Data Mining, holding an ‘Aspirant’ Fellowship of the FWO. He works in two research groups and combines the techniques of both. At one side he is member of the ADReM group (Advanced Database Research and Modelling) and working under supervision of Prof. dr. Kris Laukens. Their research focusses on bio-informatics, data-mining and network biology with a vast variety of applications. Secondly, he is part of the Molecular Parasitology Unit (MPU) lead by Prof. dr Jean-Claude Dujardin, located in the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp.
Specifically, Bart studies the parasite Leishmania donovani, which is responsible for the disease visceral leishmaniasis. Each year, over 5 million people contract this disease, which is lethal without treatment. His research focusses on unraveling developmental and drug-resistance mechanisms of the parasite by collecting (wet-lab, MPU) and integrating genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics data (ADReM).
Recent Publications
Cuypers, B., Lecordier, L., Meehan, CJ., Van den Broeck, F., Imamura, H., Büscher, P., Dujardin, JC, Laukens, K, Schnaufer, A., Dewar, C., Lewis, M., Balmer, M., Azurago, T., Kyei-Faried, S., Ohene, S., Duah, B., Homiah, P., Kofi Mensah, E., Anleah, F., Franco,J.R., Pays,E., Deborggraeve, S. (2016). "Apolipoprotein L1 Variant Associated with Increased Susceptibility to Trypanosome Infection." mBio 7(2): e02198-02115.
Berg, M., García-Hernández, R., Cuypers, B., Vanaerschot, M. Manzano, J., Poveda, J., Ferragut, J., Castanys, S., Dujardin, J.C., Gamarro, F. (2015) Experimental resistance to drug combinations in Leishmania donovani: metabolic and phenotypic adaptations, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 04231-14,2015.
Gryseels, S., Rieger, T., Oestereich, L., Cuypers, B. , Borremans, B., Makundi, R., Leirs, H, Günther, S, de Bellocq, Joëlle Goüy. (2015) "Gairo virus, a novel arenavirus of the widespread Mastomys natalensis: Genetically divergent, but ecologically similar to Lassa and Morogoro viruses", Virology,476,249-256,2015.
Berg, M., Vanaerschot, M., Jankevics, A., Cuypers, B., Breitling, R., & Dujardin, J.-C. (2013). LC-MS metabolomics from study design to data-analysis--using a versatile pathogen as a test case. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 4.
Berg, M., Vanaerschot, M., Jankevics, A., Cuypers, B., Maes, I., Mukherjee, S., … others. (2013). Metabolic adaptations of Leishmania donovani in relation to differentiation, drug resistance, and drug pressure. Molecular Microbiology, 90(2), 428–442.
Rai, K., Cuypers, B., Bhattarai, N. R., Uranw, S., Berg, M., Ostyn, B., … Vanaerschot, M. (2013). Relapse after Treatment with Miltefosine for Visceral Leishmaniasis Is Associated with Increased Infectivity of the Infecting Leishmania donovani Strain. mBio, 4(5), e00611–13.