معرفی
Liesbeth De Waele serves as an Assistant Professor at KU Leuven's Faculty of Medicine within the Department of Development and Regeneration. She is actively affiliated with the Unit Locomotor and Neurological Disorders at UZ Leuven (Herestraat 49, box 805, 3000 Leuven) and the Leuven.IRD - KU Leuven Institute for Rare Diseases. Her institutional roles include membership on both the Council of the Faculty of Medicine and the Council of the Department of Development and Regeneration as senior academic staff.
Her research centers on neuromuscular disorders with intense focus on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). She employs advanced neuroimaging techniques to investigate brain alterations in DMD patients while examining neurobehavioral difficulties and cognitive deficits. Her work extends into rehabilitation engineering through computer-aided orthosis design and explores therapeutic approaches involving extracellular vesicles and miRNAs for muscle wasting disorders. Patient-centered care remains integral to her research, particularly through shared decision-making platforms for rare disease management.
Analysis of her 2025 publications reveals dominant themes in DMD research spanning neuroimaging, gait pathology, and patient perspectives, alongside significant contributions to SMA therapeutics and tubulinopathy/tuberous sclerosis studies. The publications demonstrate strong interdisciplinary collaboration across neurology, rehabilitation, and psychiatry, with recurring emphasis on quantitative methods—from biomechanical simulations to validation of clinical assessment tools—for improving outcomes in rare neuromuscular conditions.
Dr. De Waele currently leads or co-leads seven major research projects including 'Understanding the Duchenne Brain' (2025-2029), 'Development of a Patient Preference Platform' (2023-2026), and studies on gene therapy implementation and rehabilitation interventions. These projects reflect sustained funding for translational research targeting rare neuromuscular diseases across multiple funding cycles from 2017 to 2029.
She operates within the Unit Locomotor and Neurological Disorders at UZ Leuven, a clinical-translational research hub for neuromuscular diseases, while contributing to Leuven.IRD's cross-disciplinary rare disease initiatives. Her work integrates clinical practice with engineering and patient advocacy through multidisciplinary teams involving neurologists, rehabilitation specialists, and patient representatives.