Hanne Moerman
CV
Hanne studied at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ghent University, and obtained her Master of Science in Drug Development, magna cum laude, in 2024. She performed her Master’s Dissertation in the OBCR group under supervision of Professor A. Madder and co-supervision of Dr. E. Cadoni. During this project she developed a method for selective isolation of G4-DNA with subsequent quantification based on the DNAzyme capacity of the G4-hemin complex. Results of this project were published in RSC Chemical Biology in a paper entitled ‘Development of a His-Tag-mediated pull-down and quantification assay for G-quadruplex containing DNA sequences’ .
After graduating, Hanne returned to the OBCR group as a doctoral fellow. Her current research focusses on synthetic modifications to enhance stability of clinically relevant G-quadruplex forming aptamers, to extend their therapeutic application potential.
Research Project
Development of covalent locking strategies for clinically relevant G-quadruplex aptamers
Aptamers are short single stranded oligonucleotide sequences that fold in peculiar three-dimensional structures, such as G-quadruplexes. They are called chemical antibodies because of their high affinity and selectivity. Compared to monoclonal antibodies, they offer advantages such as cost-effective synthesis, ease of chemical modification, and improved stability. However, clinical translation is hindered by issues like thermal stability, rapid nuclease degradation and renal clearance. The OBCR group developed a novel stapling strategy to lock G4 aptamers into specific topologies, stabilizing their structure, via a light-triggered covalent bond formation. Preliminary data demonstrate decreased nuclease degradation, increased thermal stability while maintaining biological activity, directly addressing key challenges of aptamer-based therapeutics. This project aims to refine this strategy across clinically relevant G4 aptamers with distinct topologies to improve target affinity, stability, nuclease resistance and potentially reduce renal clearance.
