Vincent Timmerman

Group Leader

Vincent Timmerman

Science

I am full professor at the University of Antwerp (UA). The Peripheral Neuropathy Research Group started in 1996 with mapping and identifying genes associated with inherited peripheral neuropathies. We study the effect of mutations on the normal functioning of genes in neuronal and non-neuronal cell lines, including neurons differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). This information is compared to clinical, neurophysiological and neuropathological data which are essential for genotype/phenotype correlations. We make use of transient and stable transformations, but also of the Crispr/Cas9 genome editing technology. We gained knowledge with diverse microscopy technologies and have phenotyped -in house made- mouse and Drosophila models for peripheral neuropathies. The construction of transgenic models is complementary to the clinical and cellular research, and enables to unravel the pathomechanisms for sensory and/or motor neuropathies. 

So far, I supervised 10 postdocs and 15 PhD students (4 on-going PhDs). I am a lecturer and supervisor of bachelor/master students at the UA. I recently became a partner in the UA Research Excellence Center (OEC µNeuro) on: ‘Multidimensional analysis of the nervous system in health and disease’. I am an active partner in the H2020 Solve-RD programme (Solving the unsolved rare diseases, 2018-2022, http://solve-rd.eu/). I am a member of the research committee of the European NeuroMusuclar Center (ENMC, https://www.enmc.org/), and SAB member of the MRC Center for Neuromuscular Diseases (London-New Castle, UK) and of the Inherited Neuropathy Consortium - Rare Disease Clinical Research Consortium (INC-RDCRC, Miami, USA). I am the secretary of the CMT and related disease consortium (CMTR) within the Peripheral Nerve Society (2016-current, https://www.pnsociety.com/).


Links to education, research, service provision and publications:

https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/vincent-timmerman/research/

https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/research-groups/peripheral-neuropathies-group/about-us/members/

Keywords


  • Charcot-Marie-Tooth Neuropathies

  • Inherited Peripheral Neuropathies

  • Molecular Genetics

  • Molecular Biology

  • Molecular Cell Biology

  • Gene Technology

  • Neuroscience