Charles Van der Henst

Prof. Charles Van der Henst received his PhD in Science for his contribution to studying a biosafety level 3 bacterium, the bioterrorism agent responsible for human Brucellosis. He moved for a postdoc at UCL, at de Duve Institute, to study the mechanism behind membrane stress response in Gram-negative bacteria. Then, he joined the EPFL (Global Health Institute, CH) to study the etiological agent responsible for Cholera disease. He returned to Belgium to start his own research line, linking infectiology, host-pathogen interactions, and antibiotic resistance using the WHO/CDC top priority bacterial agent, Acinetobacter baumannii. He joined the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology as a junior Group Leader in 2020 and was appointed Assistant Professor at the VUB in 2021 (Department of Bio-engineering Sciences). With his team, Prof. Van der Henst is currently developing novel targeted therapies and new drug delivery systems based on nanobodies and participating in next-generation mRNA-based vaccines to fight extensively drug-resistant bacteria. The protective polysaccharide capsule is involved in antibiotic and non-antibiotic resistance and is crucial for full virulence potential; the function and the regulation of the versatile capsule of A. baumannii are also under characterization. Weakening this bacterial shield can lead to novel alternative therapies.