Projects per year
Personal profile
Research expertise
Jan Van Den Abbeele graduated as a zoologist and obtained a PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Antwerp in 2001.
During this period, he was trained as a parasitologist and insect molecular biologist at the Unit of Entomology at Institute of Tropical Medicine and at the Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) where he studied different aspects of the development of the Trypanosoma brucei parasite in the tsetse fly.
Currently, he is full professor at ITM and head of the Trypanosoma Unit. He is coordinator of the Group Protozoa of the BMS department, vice-chair of the Institutional Ethics board, and member of the ITM Policy Commission Research. In November 2011, he was awarded with an ERC-Starting Grant/Consolidator with the project NANOSYM:
'Symbiotic bacteria as a delivery system for Nanobodies that target the insect-parasite interplay’.
His research focuses on African trypanosomes (Trypanosoma brucei sp. and T. congolense) , protozoan parasites that causes devastating diseases in humans (sleeping sickness) and livestock (Animal trypanosomiasis). It aims to improve our understanding of i) the parasite adaptive changes during key life cycle stages and its interplay with the host micro-environments and ii) the underlying mechanisms of parasite drug resistance. Besides this basic research, his unit develops and/or optimizes methods for improved sleeping sickness parasite diagnosis and molecular surveillance.
Since 2021, his unit is WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training on Human African Trypanosomiasis.
Current Research Themes
- Trypanosome survival mechanism and adaptation to different host environments with focus on key stages in the parasite life cycle in the tsetse fly (metacyclic stage) and the mammalian host (early skin stage); role of trypanosome surface proteins during these key stages and their potential for vaccine-based targeting to block early infection after tsetse fly transmission;
- The host skin immune environment after a trypanosome-infected tsetse bite;
- Role of tsetse fly saliva in trypanosome development;
- Mechanisms of drug transport and the acquisition of drug resistance in livestock trypanosomes;
- Development of molecular surveillance tools for T. brucei gambiense;
- Development and optimization of an anti-tsetse saliva ELISA as an epidemiological tool to measure tsetse fly exposure of the mammalian host population;
- Genetical modification of Sodalis glossinidius to deliver trypanosome-targeting molecules (paratransgenesis).
ERC-NANOSYM project – BBC World
EC-TRYRAC project (Trypanosomosis Rational Chemotherapy)
Teaching expertise
- Laboratory diagnostics
- Biological transmission of vector-borne diseases
- African trypanosomiasis
- Molecular biology
Education/Academic qualification
Master
PhD
External positions
Guest Professor, Ghent University
1-Mar-2013 → 29-Feb-2016Keywords
- B361-physiology-of-invertebrates
- tsetse fly
- trypanosome transmission
- innate immunity
- salivary gland proteins
- bacterial symbionts
- paratransgenesis
- B750-veterinary-medicine
- Animal African trypanosomiasis
- Trypanosoma congolense
- Trypanosoma vivax
- drug resistance
- genetic diversity
- evolution and transmission dynamics
- B780-tropical-medicine
- Human African trypanosomiasis
- Trypanosoma brucei
- host innate immunity
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INNATEBITE: Innate immune response in the mammalian host skin after the bite of a trypanosome-infected tsetse fly
Van Den Abbeele, J., Bartok, E. & Stas, M.
Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
1/01/22 → 31/12/25
Project: Research Project
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GENTOOL: Novel genetic tools to study the molecular basis of drug resistance in Trypanosoma congolense
Brasseur, A., Van Den Abbeele, J. & Stas, M.
Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
1/10/18 → 31/12/20
Project: Research Project
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Molecular adaptation of the tsetse fly transmited African trypanosome to the intradermal micro-environment in the mammalian host
Verbeelen, M., Van Den Abbeele, J. & Dujardin, J.
26/04/18 → 3/11/20
Project: PhD-project
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TrypCo: The RNA editing space of the neglected genome in the major livestock African trypanosome parasite, Trypanosoma congolense.
Van den Broeck, F., Van Den Abbeele, J. & De Smet, S.
Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Vlaamse Overheid
1/11/17 → 31/12/18
Project: Research Project
Research output
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A multi-adenylate cyclase regulator at the flagellar tip controls African trypanosome transmission
Bachmaier, S., Giacomelli, G., Calvo-Alvarez, E., Vieira, L. R., Van Den Abbeele, J., Aristodemou, A., Lorentzen, E., Gould, M., Brennand, A., Dupuy, J-W., Forne, I., Imhof, A., Bramkamp, M., Salmon, D., Rotureau, B. & Boshart, M., 2022, In: Nature Communications. 13, 1, p. 5445 17 p., 5445.Research output: Contribution to journal › A1: Web of Science-article › peer-review
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Heme-deficient metabolism and impaired cellular differentiation as an evolutionary trade-off for human infectivity in Trypanosoma brucei gambiense
Horakova, E., Lecordier, L., Cunha, P., Sobotka, R., Changmai, P., Langedijk, C. J. M., Van den Abbeele, J., Vanhollebeke, B. & Lukes, J., 2022, In: Nature Communications. 13, 1, p. 7075 14 p., 7075.Research output: Contribution to journal › A1: Web of Science-article › peer-review
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Prevalence of Trypanosoma and Sodalis in wild populations of tsetse flies and their impact on sterile insect technique programmes for tsetse eradication
Dieng, M. M., Dera, K-S. M., Moyaba, P., Ouedraogo, G. M. S., Demirbas-Uzel, G., Gstöttenmayer, F., Mulandane, F. C., Neves, L., Mdluli, S., Rayaisse, J-B., Belem, A. M. G., Pagabeleguem, S., de Beer, C. J., Parker, A. G., Van Den Abbeele, J., Mach, R. L., Vreysen, M. J. B. & Abd-Alla, A. M. M., 2022, In: Scientific Reports. 12, 1, p. 3322 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › A1: Web of Science-article › peer-review
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Targeting the tsetse-trypanosome interplay using genetically engineered Sodalis glossinidius
De Vooght, L., De Ridder, K., Hussain, S., Stijlemans, B., De Baetselier, P., Caljon, G. & Van Den Abbeele, J., 2022, In: PLoS Pathogens. 18, 3, 23 p., e1010376.Research output: Contribution to journal › A1: Web of Science-article › peer-review
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Tsetse salivary glycoproteins are modified with paucimannosidic N-glycans, are recognised by C-type lectins and bind to trypanosomes
Kozak, R. P., Mondragon-Shem, K., Williams, C., Rose, C., Perally, S., Caljon, G., Van den Abbeele, J., Wongtrakul-Kish, K., Gardner, R. A., Spencer, D., Lehane, M. J. & Acosta-Serrano, A., 2021, In: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 15, 2, 22 p., 0009071.Research output: Contribution to journal › A1: Web of Science-article › peer-review
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