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About Joris De Wit

Short Bio

Joris De Wit started the Laboratory of Synapse Biology at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research in 2013, where he has since been working as VIB Group Leader and KU Leuven Associate Professor. In addition, Joris has served as Deputy Science Director of the Center since 2018. Finally, Joris is responsible for the technology in the Center. As part of this role, Joris has reorganized the Center’s Expertise Units, brought in new expertise in neuroengineering and proteomics, and works closely with the VIB Core Facilities program to further strengthen the Center's imaging, spatial omics, flow and single-cell technologies. Furthermore, he set up an electrophysiology facility that is now an Expertise Unit accessible to VIB and KU Leuven research groups.  

Joris De Wit's scientific work focuses on the molecular and celluar mechanisms of neural connectivity: where and when synapses form, how these connections change with experience, and how they are affected in disease. He performed his PhD research on the role of secreted axon guidance molecules and neurotrophin receptors in the adult nervous system with Prof. Joost Verhaagen at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and obtained my PhD degree at the VU University (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) in 2004. For his postdoctoral training, he worked with Prof. Matthijs Verhage on mechanisms of neuropeptide release in cultured neurons (VU University, The Netherlands; 2004-2006). Joris then moved to the US for his second postdoc with Prof. Anirvan Ghosh on molecular mechanisms of specific synaptic connectivity (University of California San Diego, USA; 2006-2010). In 2010, he became Ass. Project Scientist at UCSD and interim lab head in the absence of Prof. Ghosh.   

Joris' work on synaptic connectivity has been published in Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications, Science, Neuron, and more. His work on the modulation of the GABABR1a receptor by APP-derived peptide resulted in 4 patent applications, of which he is inventor. Joris is also scientific co-founder of Augustine Tx.

 

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Full CV

2019 - present

Professor, KU Leuven, Department of Neurosciences

2018 - present

Deputy Science Director, VIB Center for Brain & Disease Research

2013 - present

Group Leader, VIB Center for Brain & Disease Research

2013 - 2019

Associate Professor, KU Leuven, Department of Human Genetics/Neurosciences

2010 - 2012

Assistant Project Scientist, University of California San Diego, USA

2006 - 2010

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Diego, USA

2004 - 2006

Postdoctoral Researcher, VU University, Netherlands

1998 - 2004

PhD student, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Netherlands

1992 - 1998

B.Sc./M.Sc. in Biology, Utrecht University, Netherlands

2012                      European Research Council Starting Grant

2012                      FWO Odysseus Grant

2010                      Best postdoc talk, UCSD/Salk Institute Annual Biology Retreat, USA

2009                      Young Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, USA

2007                      Rubicon Award, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Netherlands

1998                      M.Sc. in Biology, Utrecht University, Netherlands cum laude

See Joris' Google Scholar Profile for a complete list of publications.

Joris serves as a regular reviewer for international scientific journals including Science, Nature, Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications, PLOS Biology, Journal of Cell Biology, Molecular Psychiatry, EMBO Journal, eLife, Cell Reports and others.

He also regularly review for granting agencies: the European Research Council (ERC); Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw); Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) France; Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP); Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO); Alzheimer’s Research UK; and others.

Joris serves as a member of the Swiss National Science Foundation grant evaluation panel since 2022. This involves reviewing a set of grant applications and attending study sections twice a year.

 

The De Wit Lab's work on the modulation of the GABABR1a receptor by APP-derived peptides (Rice Science 2019), and follow-up work with VIB-Discovery Sciences resulted in 4 patent applications (2017 (US Patent), 2019, 2021, 2021) on which Joris is inventor. This package, together with work from Ludo Van Den Bosch on HDAC6 inhibitors, became part of the VIB spin-off company Augustine Therapeutics (2019; 4.2 M€ invested) that focuses on new treatment strategies for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Joris is scientific co-founder of Augustine Tx and served as scientific advisory board member. In 2022, the company decided to focus exclusively on HDAC6 inhibitors and the GABAB asset was returned to VIB.

Joris' work with Pierre Vanderhaeghen on the hominid-specific LRRC37B receptor (Libé-Philippot bioRxiv 2022) resulted in a patent application (2022) on which Joris is inventor.

Joris is regularly invited as a speaker for conferences, symposia and seminars, including GRC Cell Biology of the Neuron; GRC Excitatory Synapses and Brain Function; European Synapse Meeting; Society for Neuroscience Meeting; EMBO Molecular Neurobiology workshop; EMBO Cell Biology of the Neuron workshop; International Winter Neuroscience Conference; Circuits Development and Axon Regeneration meeting and others.