معرفی
Wouter Peelaerts serves as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences at KU Leuven's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He holds cross-institute appointments at the ADVANTAGE research group (Advanced Disease Modelling, Targeted Drug Discovery and Gene Therapy), KU Leuven Brain Institute (LBI), Institute for Rare Diseases (Leuven.IRD), and Institute for Single Cell Omics (LISCO), while participating in faculty and departmental councils as senior academic staff.
His research centers on neurodegenerative mechanisms in Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy (MSA), with emphasis on α-synuclein pathology propagation, oligodendrocyte dysfunction, and infection-triggered neurodegeneration. Key investigations explore how urinary tract infections initiate synucleinopathy via innate immune responses and how α-synuclein strain variations dictate disease phenotypes. His work integrates gene therapy approaches and small-molecule drug discovery targeting neuroinflammatory pathways.
Analysis of his 2020-2024 publications reveals consistent focus on experimental models (iPSCs, organoids, rodent systems) to dissect α-synuclein transmission mechanisms. Dominant themes include strain-specific pathology in synucleinopathies, oligodendroglial contributions to MSA severity, and peripheral infection as a catalyst for central nervous system degeneration. Methodologically, his work bridges molecular neuropathology with translational immunology.
Peelaerts leads or co-leads ten active research projects funded through 2027, including investigations into α-synuclein modulators for Parkinson's disease, oligodendrocyte roles in neurodegeneration models, and urinary tract infection-triggered synucleinopathy. His grant portfolio demonstrates sustained focus on infection-neurodegeneration links and oligodendroglial mechanisms across multiple system atrophy subtypes.
Within the ADVANTAGE research group, he collaborates across KU Leuven's neuroscience ecosystem, leveraging resources from the Brain Institute, Rare Diseases Institute, and Single Cell Omics Institute to develop integrated models of proteinopathy and neuroinflammation. His team utilizes cutting-edge technologies including viral vector delivery systems and single-cell functional profiling for mechanistic studies.
