Technician
Gerard van der Zon
Research:
I support the research within the group. Help in training post-docs and students. The work in this group is focussed on TGFB signalling. Epithelial cells can undergo Epithelial-Mesenchymal transition after TGFB stimulation. One of the projects is studying the transcriptional effectors in this EMT. By knocking genes out with CRISPR/CAS I am trying to influence this process. Furthermore, I am involved in the teaching program ” Van Cel tot Molecuul’ for Medical Students (lectures and workgroups)
Curriculum Vitae:
I studied at the Laboratory School (HB0-B Analytical Chemistry ) from 1978 to 1983. I started as a research technician at the department Medical Biochemistry Leiden University (later LUMC) in the group of Ton Maassen in 1986. We investigated insulinreceptor mutants in (severe) insulinresistant patients and the relation between this mutants and a more common form of insulinresistance (type 2 Diabetes . Later the work focussed more on the Insulin (receptor) signalling-pathway in general. The last years I worked in collaboration with Bruno Guigas from the department of Parasitology. It is known that infection with Helminths (a parasitic worm) can have a beneficial influence on the immune system. It can have a positive effect on auto-immune diseases; allergic reactions and insulin resistance in type 2 Diabetes. We investigated the effect of the parasite molecules in the insulin signalling pathway towards glucose-uptake. From 2018 I am working as a research technician in the group of Peter ten Dijke.
Publications
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Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia Impairs Insulin Sensitivity but Improves Whole-Body Glucose Tolerance by Activating Skeletal Muscle AMPK.
Thomas A, Belaidi E, Moulin S, Horman S, van der Zon GC, Viollet B, Levy P, Bertrand L, Pepin JL, Godin-Ribuot D, Guigas B
Diabetes. 2017 Dec;66(12):2942-2951.
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Hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase 1 (PHD1) deficiency promotes hepatic steatosis and liver-specific insulin resistance in mice.
Thomas A, Belaidi E, Aron-Wisnewsky J, van der Zon GC, Levy P, Clement K, Pepin JL, Godin-Ribuot D, Guigas B.
Sci Rep. 2016 Apr 20;6:24618.
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Chronic helminth infection and helminth-derived egg antigens promote adipose tissue M2 macrophages and improve insulin sensitivity in obese mice.
Hussaarts L, García-Tardón N, van Beek L, Heemskerk MM, Haeberlein S, van der Zon GC, Ozir-Fazalalikhan A, Berbée JF, Willems van Dijk K, van Harmelen V, Yazdanbakhsh M, Guigas B.
FASEB J. 2015 Jul;29(7):3027-39.
