Professor Véronique Kruys 

Biography

I am currently Professor at the Department of Molecular Biology of the Free University of Brussels (ULB). I graduated in Chemistry in 1985 and obtained my PhD in 1989 at the department of Molecular Biology (ULB) under the supervision of Prof. Georges Huez who contributed to the isolation and characterization of the first messenger RNA. During my thesis, I had the chance to be trained by outstanding scientists such as Prof. Tom Rapoport (Institute of Molecular Biology of the East German Academy of Sciences) and Dr Daniel Caput (Sanofi, Toulouse, France).  In 1990, I joined the laboratory of Prof. B. Beutler at UT Southwestern (Dallas, TX) as post-doctoral fellow. During my three years stay at Dallas, I worked on the regulation of TNF-alpha gene expression. In 1993, I returned to ULB as research/teaching assistant and became associate professor in 1994.  Since 2003, I lead a research group in collaboration with Prof. Cyril Gueydan.

Research

My main research interest focuses on regulation of gene expression. During my PhD, I demonstrated that AU-rich sequences (nowadays called ARE for AU-rich elements), which are present in about 10% of metazoan transcripts, are important regulatory elements controlling mRNA translation. During my stay in the laboratory of Prof. B. Beutler, I further demonstrated that ARE-mediated regulation of TNF-alpha expression plays a dominant role to control the expression of this pro-inflammatory cytokine. While still exploring the role of ARE-mediated regulation in different cellular and physiological contexts, our laboratory is currently investigating post-transcriptional mechanisms underlying gene expression reprogramming upon cellular stress. We therefore combine high throughput analysis with mechanistic studies to uncover key elements recruiting mRNA translation machinery despite global blockade of protein synthesis imposed by stress.

Our laboratory welcomed several students of the Beutler Institute for undergraduate internships since 2016. During their stay, the students were trained to lead their research project with increasing autonomy and critical thinking.

Teaching Career

I had the opportunity to teach several different courses including biochemistry, gene expression and advanced molecular biology for more than 25 years. As teaching assistant, I designed and supervised practical courses in molecular and cellular biology and biochemistry. Together with Prof. C. Gueydan, I train master students to critical reading of scientific articles. The teaching of Genetics at the Beutler Institute is unique as it combines several teaching modalities to boost both student knowledge and critical, independent scientific thinking.