Advancing glioblastoma therapy through dual-action therapeutic system made of Bioactive Lipid Nanotherapy loaded with Amaryllicadeae Alkaloids

Abstract

Glioblastoma remains the deadliest primary brain tumor, largely due to insufficient drug penetration across the blood–brain barrier (BBB), pronounced intratumoral heterogeneity, and rapid recurrence driven by invasive and treatment-resistant subpopulations. Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (AAs) display potent multimodal anticancer activity, including  inhibition of translation, STAT3 signaling, and actin-dependent migration, but their clinical development has been hindered by poor solubility, unfavorable pharmacokinetics, and toxicity. This project aims to overcome these limitations by developing a dual-action therapeutic system based on a new bioactive and BBB-permeable glycolipid that provides intrinsic anti-glioblastoma activity and efficient drug loading. This new nanotherapy aims to improve brain delivery, enhance tumor selectivity, enable sustained tumor-targeted release of AAs and importantly leads to synergistic effects. Through systematic formulation development, PK/safety assessment, orthotopic efficacy studies, and tumor-microenvironment profiling, the project seeks to generate a first-in-class therapeutic platform capable of addressing the fundamental drivers of GBM progression and resistance, with strong potential for clinical translation.

Veronique Mathieu est Professeure à l'ULB en Facutlé de Pharmacie. Elle travaille au sein du DPP en cancérologie et toxicologie expérimentale depuis plus de 20 ans et a publié plus de 130 articles dans des revues internationales à comité de lecture. Son équipe est basée sur la Campus de la Plaine (1050 Bruxelles)

Le projet de recherche sera mené conjointement avec l'Université Catholique de Louvain pour l'aspect des formulations sous la direction du Professeure Anne des Rieux (Campus de Woluwe à Bruxelles)

Le métro déssert les deux campus et peut donc être utilisé pour aller d'un Campus à l'autre

Informations:

The project is for a PhD student starting from September or October 2026. Post-Doc are not eligible.  The applicant should be available to prepare an application (on the basis of strong documents already available and in tight collaboration with the promoters) to be submitted in end of August to FRIA (Belgium call).  In case of negative results, the promoters have one year of financial support for the candidate allowing him/her to apply again during this first year to various calls to be funded for the last 3 years of the project.

Candidate Profile: having (or sure to get in August) a master degree in Pharmacy, nanotechnology, biomedical sciences or equivalent. The final diploma grade should be at minimum 14/20 to apply. Candidate must be from European Union (or United kingdom or Switzerland). The animal certificate is not required to start the project but the project includes animal experiments so that the candidate should agree to follow the certification and participate actively in such experiments. For more info, you may contact Prof. Veronique Mathieu.

Domain of the research:  experimental oncology, pharmaceutical sciences, molecular biology

Language: fluent French or English is required