Team:KULeuven/Attributions

Attributions

We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Gregory Gloor, for providing us with a plasmid (pUC1813ICE) which contains the ice nucleating protein gene inaZ. Prof. Dr. Gregory Gloor currently does research at the University of Western Ontario, examining the vaginal microbiome, since the number and type of bacteria in the vagina, have a profound effect on a woman's health. An article in which he uses the pUC1813ICE with inaZ can be found here.

We also want to thank Prof. Dr. Filip Rolland. He extracted genomic DNA from the Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 strain. Unfortunately, attempts to clone the INP with this template failed, possibly due to mismatches between the template and primer sequences. In addition, successfull ligation reactions were performed using a protocol optimized in his lab. Prof. Dr. Filip Rolland is a researcher and professor at the K.U. Leuven and works on plantmetabolism and the interaction with fungi. We would like to thank him too for all his effort he put in to our debate as a moderator.

We are also greatful to Prof.Dr.Johan Robben for being a panel member at our debate. He is a professor at the K.U.Leuven and head of the research group Protein Interactions. His current research focuses on DNA polymerases and their potential of incorporating synthetically modified nucleotides. Directed evolution techniques are used for evolving natural polymerases towards new substrate specificities.

Our gratitude also goes to Prof.Dr. Johan De Tavernier for his contributions as a panel member at our debate. He is a professor at the K.U.Leuven. He has a degree in Moral Theology and since 1996, he has been the director of the Centre for Agricultural Bio- and Environmental Ethics (now the Centre for Science, Technology and Ethics). In one of his books ‘science, ethics and society’ (published in 2004) he discusses whether biotechnology is necessary to solve world hunger. Prof. De Tavernier is a member of ‘Metaforum Leuven’, an interdisciplinary think tank of the K.U.Leuven.

Our thanks should also go to Prof. Dr. Bruno André for being a panel member at our debate. He is a professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and director of the laboratory of Molecular Cell Physiology (IBMM, ULB). The research of his laboratory mainly focuses on the yeast S. cerevisiae which is a paradigm model system for dissecting the molecular mechanisms of basic cellular functions in eukaryotes.

We would also like to thank Prof.Dr. Jacques van Helden for his contributions as a panel member at our debate.He is a professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and director of the Laboratory of Genome and Network Bioinformatics (http://www.bigre.ulb.ac.be/). Initially trained as agronomic engineer, his PhD thesis focused on the genetic regulation of nervous system development in Drosophila. Since 1997, his research activities have been dedicated to the development of bioinformatics approaches to analyze genomes and networks of molecular interactions (regulation, metabolism, protein interactions).