Prof. dr. Marcel Ameloot

Advanced microscopy techniques are essential in current biomedical research.

The aim of the Biophysics group was to develop and apply such techniques. Among others, these techniques include fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, image correlation spectroscopy based on signal fluctuations, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy, nonlinear optical microscopy techniques such as two-excitation fluorescence microscopy and second harmonic imaging microscopy.

Applications resulting from our own research interest and through collaborations include the study of the intracellular dynamics of nanoparticles, label-free characterisation of the interaction of cells with the fibrils of a collagen hydrogel, the label-free detection of carbonaceous nanoparticles (soot, black carbon, carbon nanotubes, graphene,…) in cells, liquid biopsies (urine, blood) and tissues (biological an non-biological).

I am emeritus (01.10.19) but still affiliated with Hasselt University for 10%. I am still happy to discuss scientific issues related to my expertise.

• Hannelore Bové, Eva Bongaerts, Eli Slender, Esmée M. Bijnens, Nelly D. Saenen, Wilfried Gyselaers, Peter Van Eyken, Michelle Plusquin, Maarten B. J. Roeffaers, Marcel Ameloot, Tim S. Nawrot. Ambient Black Carbon Particles Reach the Fetal Side of Human Placenta. Nature Communications 2019,10:3866.

• Van Steenbergen V, Boesmans W, Li Z, de Coene Y, Vints K, Baatsen P, Dewachter I, Ameloot M, Clays K, Vanden Berghe P. Molecular understanding of label-free second harmonic imaging of microtubules. Nature Communications 2019 Aug 6;10(1):3530.

• Slenders E, Bové H, Urbain M, Mugnier Y, Sonay AY, Pantazis P, Bonacina L, Vanden Berghe P, vandeVen M, Ameloot M. Image Correlation Spectroscopy with Second Harmonic Generating Nanoparticles in Suspension and in Cells. J Phys Chem Lett. 2018 Oct 8:6112-6118.

• Eli Slenders, Senne Seneca, Sumit Kumar Pramanik, Nick Smisdom, Peter Adriaensens, Martin vandeVen, Anitha Ethiraja and Marcel Ameloot. Dynamics of the phospholipid shell of microbubbles: a fluorescence photoselection and spectral phasor approach. Chemical Communications 2018, 54(38):4854-4857.

• Alvaro Jorge-Peñas, Hannelore Bové, Kathleen Sanen, Marie-Mo Vaeyens, Christian Steuwe, Maarten Roeffaers, Marcel Ameloot, Hans Van Oosterwyck. . 3D full-field quantification of cell-induced large deformations in fibrillar biomaterials by combining non-rigid image registration with label-free second harmonic generation. Biomaterials. 2017. Volume 136, August 2017, Pages 86–97.

• Saenen ND, Bové H, Steuwe C, Roeffaers MBJ, Provost EB, Lefebvre W, Vanpoucke C, Ameloot M, Nawrot TS. Children’s Urinary Environmental Carbon Load. A Novel Marker Reflecting Residential Ambient Air Pollution Exposure? American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2017 Oct 1;196(7):873-881.

• Bové, H., Steuwe, C., Fron, E., Slenders, E., D’Haen, J., Fujita, Y., Uji-i, H., vandeVen, M., Roeffaers, M., Ameloot, M. Biocompatible Label-Free Detection of Carbon Black Particles by Femtosecond Pulsed Laser Microscopy. Nano Letters, 2016, 16(5), pp 3173–3178.

• Sanen K, Paesen R, Luyck S, Phillips J, Lambrichts I, Martens W, Ameloot M. Label-free mapping of microstructural organisation in self-aligning cellular collagen hydrogels using image correlation spectroscopy. Acta Biomaterialia, 2016, 30, p. 258-264.

• Penjweini, Rozhin;Deville, Sarah, Deville;Olieslaeger, Lien ; Berden, Mandy ;Ameloot, Marcel; Ethirajan, Anitha .Intracellular localization and dynamics of Hypericin loaded PLLA nanocarriers by image correlation spectroscopy. Journal of Controlled Release, 2015, 218, p. 82-93.

• Paesen R, Sanen K, Smisdom N, Michiels L, Ameloot M. Polarization second harmonic generation by image correlation spectroscopy on collagen type I hydrogels. Acta Biomaterialia. 2014. 10(5): 2036-2046