Xavier Saelens

Xavier Saelens (b. 1965) is a Belgian scientist and currently his main research interest is finding a universal influenza vaccine [Fiers W, De Filette M, Birkett A, Neirynck S, Min Jou W, A universal human influenza A vaccine, Virus Res. 2004 Jul;103(1-2):173-6] . He is a Lecturer in Virology and Group Leader of the Molecular Virology Unit at the University of Ghent (Ghent, Belgium)

Education

He obtained a Bachelor's degree in Biology at the University of Ghent in 1985, and a Master's degree in Biotechnology and also a PhD in Biotechnology (1990).

Career

He worked as a Postdoc at the University of Ghent from 1990 until 2004 and he is VIB Project Leader since 2005. His current research focuses on the development and characterisation of novel influenza A and B vaccines. Together with Walter Fiers and their team, he works on the development of an M2e-based vaccine [Neirynck S, Deroo T, Saelens X, Vanlandschoot P, Jou WM, Fiers W, A universal influenza A vaccine based on the extracellular domain of the M2 protein, Nat Med. 1999 Oct;5(10):1157-63] [Saelens X, Vanlandschoot P, Martinet W, Maras M, Neirynck S, Contreras R, Fiers W, Jou WM, Protection of mice against a lethal influenza virus challenge after immunization with yeast-derived secreted influenza virus hemagglutinin, Eur J Biochem 260, 166-175, 1999] [De Filette M, Min Jou W, Birkett A, Lyons K, Schultz B, Tonkyro A, Resch S, Fiers W, Universal influenza A vaccine: optimization of M2-based constructs, Virology. 2005 Jun 20;337(1):149-61] [De Filette M, Ramne A, Birkett A, Lycke N, Löwenadler B, Min Jou W, Saelens X, Fiers W, The universal influenza vaccine M2e-HBc administered intranasally in combination with the adjuvant CTA1-DD provides complete protection, Vaccine. 2006 Jan 30;24(5):544-51] [Fiers W, Neirynck S, Deroo T, Saelens X, Jou WM, Soluble recombinant influenza vaccines, Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2001 Dec 29;356(1416):1961-3] .

References

External links

* [http://ec.europa.eu/research/health/influenza/people04_en.html Dr Xavier Saelens] (EU Influenza research)
* [http://www.vib.be/Research/EN/Research+Departments/Department+for+Molecular+Biomedical+research/Xavier+Saelens/ Xavier Saelens] (VIB)
* [http://www.vib.be/NR/rdonlyres/E8FB2BC8-3D32-4D76-BFC1-9609FA07C689/2341/17072007_ENG_Saelens_griepvaccin_web.pdf Universal flu vaccine being tested on humans] 17 July 2007