Units

Pharmacognosy, Bioanalysis & Drug Discovery

The Unit Pharmacognosy, Bioanalysis & Drug Discovery (PBDD) is one of the research units of the Faculty of Pharmacy. Composed of three professors, two associate-professors, 4 assistants and 6 technicians; our unit is able to welcome several Belgian or foreign PhD Students. Specialized in the study of organic drugs, from plants or biotherapeutics, the PBDD Unit promotes researches in the domain of the development and the analysis of molecules with therapeutical potential. For bioguided fractionation of medicinal plant extracts, analysis and quality control of drugs, biotherapeutic characterization, biomarker research for validation of therapeutical targets, the PBDD Unit proposes performant analytical tools such as liquid/gas chromatography, spectroscopic methods (UV-Vis, NIR, Fluorimetry), electrochemistry detectors and mass spectrometry.
PBDD Unit is also responsible for the analytical platform of the Faculty of Pharmacy (apfp.ulb.be).

Structure and Function of Biological Membranes

The laboratory is dedicated to advancing to a better understanding of the structure, function, and role of biological membranes in cells and cellular organelles.  We put a special emphasis on the study of the structure and function of membrane molecules (lipids and proteins) and on the investigation of the mechanism by which these molecules control membrane permeability and cellular functions. We provide a multidisciplinary training and research environment including cell biology, physiology, biochemistry, proteomics, cell and molecular spectroscopy, biophysics and structural bioinformatics. As membrane component s are the targets for most pharmaceutical compounds, our studies include hot topics such as cancer diagnostic and treatment, cholesterol and lipid transport, Alzheimer's disease, cell transfection, heavy metals detoxification. Our group has contributed to the development of methodologies that allow the investigation of the structure-activity relationship of membrane proteins at a molecular scale in a well-defined environment. One of our main purpose is to stimulate and coordinate high-level graduate education in membrane biology, and foster career development of membrane scientists in an environment of research excellence. The laboratory develops Basic and Applied Research projects. Our laboratory belongs to the ''Structural Biology and Bioinformatics Center'' at the University of Brussels, and is member of the ''Structure and Function of Biological Macromolecules, Bioinformatics and Modelling'' graduate college. Our laboratory is also part of several European (Early Stage Training (EST)'' networks.

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