Metabolic investigations.
This unit tries to analyse
the molecular mechanisms, such as allosteric modifications, phosphorylation
of protein and protein-protein interactions, involved in the control
of a metabolic pathway by hormones, substrates, drugs and other
active agents. The group is also interested in "inborn errors
of metabolism", the name given to hereditary diseases due
to enzymatic deficiencies resulting from genetic modifications.
The unit includes two main research groups.
- A group, directed by Emile
Van Schaftingen, studies the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism,
with special emphasis on glucokinase, an enzyme that plays a
critical role in maintaining the blood-sugar level (perturbed,
among others, in diabetes) and that is controlled by a regulatory
protein discovered by members of the group.
- The other group, directed
by Georges Van den Berghe, investigates the deficiency of adenylosuccinate
lyase and purine compounds with therapeutic potential in cancer,
mainly 2-chloro-2'-deoxyadenosine.They also maintain the ADSL database.
Contact
point
27
juillet 2000.