BioMS Centre
Country: Belgium
City: Hasselt
Institution:MS Center (UMSC), Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University
Website: https://www.uhasselt.be/nl/instituten/biomed/immunologie/somers-lab
PI/Co-PI: Veerle Somers / Judith Fraussen
Team members (name, position and contact e-mail):
Veerle Somers, PI, veerle.somers@uhasselt.be
Judith Fraussen, postdoc, judith.fraussen@uhasselt.be
The research group of Prof. Veerle Somers focuses on the discovery and validation of novel autoantibody biomarkers, the characterization of the functional involvement of these autoantibodies and their target antigens for a number of autoimmune and neurologic diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS). Novel autoantibody biomarkers for MS but also rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis and spinal cord injury have been identified using cDNA phage display. These autoantibodies are being studied for their role as novel biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy prediction, and in addition, their pathological contribution in disease processes is also being studied. With more than a decade of experience in different rheumatic and neurologic disease areas, this has resulted in an optimized pipeline for autoantibody discovery, validation and characterization.