Research Sebastiaan Dalle

Abstract

Children with burn injuries face a long recovery that extends far beyond hospital discharge. While acute care in Belgium is highly specialised, little is known about how children and their families navigate through physical, psychological, and social recovery, often within fragmented follow-up systems. This post-discharge phase remains a critical yet underexplored gap in paediatric burn care and research. Existing literature has predominantly focused on acute outcomes and surgical success, leaving the broader biopsychosocial and long-term physical consequences of paediatric burn injuries insufficiently understood, particularly from the perspective of children and their families. Consequently, aftercare pathways often develop in an ad hoc manner, varying between centres and regions, and risk overlooking key moments when children and families are most vulnerable. This lack of systematic insight may contribute to unmet needs, delayed psychosocial support, difficulties with reintegration into home and school environments, and long-term consequences for health-related quality of life. Physical activity is a key aspect to improve quality of life and to engage in social activities. However, it remains insufficiently understood which underlying mechanisms and determinants influence engagement in physical activity, and how these can be reliably and validly assessed in paediatric burn populations. This PhD project addresses this important knowledge gap through the first comprehensive investigation of paediatric burn aftercare in Belgium. Its overarching aim is to systematically identify and theoretically underpin the key biopsychosocial determinants of recovery and physical activity engagement, and to operationalise and measure these constructs in children with burns and their families throughout recovery, and to identify where and why discontinuities in care occur. By integrating perspectives from children, parents, and healthcare professionals across different Belgian burn centres, the project moves beyond a clinical perspective and adopts a child- and family-centred rehabilitation perspective. In doing so, the project aims to generate fundamental insights into the mechanisms driving recovery trajectories, which can serve as a basis for future hypothesis-driven and interventional research. The project is structured in three phases. First, it will explore the physical, psychological, and social challenges encountered by children with burns and their families. Age-matched healthy children will also be recruited to enable comparative analysis and contextualise findings. Second, it will explore existing medical and psychosocial follow-up practices through focus groups with multidisciplinary healthcare professionals across burn centres, aiming to identify strengths, variations, and potential gaps in care pathways. Third, informed by these findings, the project will serve as a foundation for a subsequent translational project to co-develop and implement an evidence-based, optimised aftercare model, including recommendations for integrated, multidisciplinary follow-up and enhanced biopsychosocial support during critical transition phases. Methodologically, the project is innovative in combining experiential data with care pathway analysis to develop a conceptual framework of paediatric burn recovery, and to inform the identification and measurement of core constructs underlying aftercare needs and discontinuities. Conceptually, it advances the field by developing a theoretically grounded framework of paediatric burn recovery, in which key biopsychosocial constructs and their interrelations are defined and can be empirically tested. Its strong translational orientation ensures that outcomes will be directly relevant and implementable in practice. This PhD combines scientific, societal, and policy impact by translating knowledge into sustainable improvements in aftercare for children with burn injuries.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Dalle Sebastiaan

Research team(s)

• Movement Antwerp (MOVANT)01/07/2026 - 30/06/2030

Funding

• BOF

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Obesity and related metabolic disorders present significant global health challenges. Current treatments for obesity focus on weight loss but can result in unintended lean mass loss, which negatively impact overall health. While exercise is known to improve muscle quality and metabolism, and to reduce inflammation, the underlying mechanisms driving these beneficial effects remain poorly understood. The endocannabinoid system (ECS), which includes bioactive lipids such as anandamide, plays a key role in regulating metabolism and inflammation. Dysregulation of the ECS has been implicated in metabolic disturbances, particularly in obesity. However, the precise role of the ECS in exercise-induced adaptations, particularly in the context of obesity, remains unclear. This project aims to investigate the influence of the ECS on metabolic and inflammatory responses to endurance exercise in obesity. The objectives of this research are designed to fill critical gaps in our understanding of the ECS's role in exercise adaptation and its potential for therapeutic intervention. The research is structured around four primary aims: 1. Identification of tissues contributing to exercise-induced increases in eCB levels. This aim will involve examining the tissue-specific response of the ECS to exercise and determining which tissues contribute most significantly to the observed changes in eCB levels. 2. Examination of the effects of diet-induced obesity on eCB responses to acute exercise. This aim will investigate how obesity influences the exercise-induced modulation of the ECS, and how this related to metabolic and inflammatory regulators. 3. Restoration of eCB responses to acute exercise in obese mice. This aim will examine whether restoring eCB responses to acute exercise in obesity can enhance metabolic and inflammatory adaptations. The research will involve pharmacologically modulating the ECS to restore its activity and observing the effects on exercise-induced changes in metabolic and inflammatory regulators. 4. Evaluation of the effects of restored ECS responses during chronic exercise training on obesity-related metabolic, inflammatory, and fitness outcomes. The final aim will investigate whether the restoration of eCB function during chronic exercise training enhances long-term metabolic and inflammatory adaptations. It is hypothesized that improved ECS activity during exercise training will amplify the beneficial effects of exercise, particularly in obese mice, by enhancing both inflammatory, metabolic health and fitness levels. The research will utilize a high-fat, high-fructose diet-induced obesity model in mice to simulate the metabolic disturbances associated with obesity. A combination of molecular analyses, metabolic testing, and pharmacological interventions will be employed to assess eCB levels and activity, as well as their relationship with key metabolic and inflammatory regulators. The study will also explore how these interventions influence exercise performance and adaptations to both acute and chronic endurance exercise. Ultimately, the results of this study have the potential to provide valuable insights into the role of the ECS in exercise adaptations and metabolic health. By identifying ways to modulate the ECS to enhance exercise-induced benefits, this research could inform the development of new therapeutic strategies for improving metabolic health in individuals with obesity and related disorders. Through its investigation into the interplay between exercise, inflammation, metabolism, and the ECS, this research could provide a foundational basis for future interventions aimed at improving health outcomes in obesity and other metabolic disorders.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Dalle Sebastiaan
• Fellow: Kural Irem

Research team(s)

• Movement Antwerp (MOVANT)01/07/2025 - 30/06/2029

Funding

• BOF

Project type(s)

• Research Project