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Prof Ben Loos wants to help improve treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, cancer
Author: Corporate Communication & Marketing / Korporatiewe Kommunikasie & Bemarking
Published: 13/09/2022

Prof Ben Loos from the Department of Physiological Sciences at Stellenbosch University recently delivered his professorial inaugural lecture, titled 'On the role of autophagy and cell death control in neurodegeneration and gliomas'. He spoke to the Corporate Communication and Marketing Division about how his work on cell death offers hope for the improved treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and certain resistant cancers.

Tell us more about your research and why you became interested in this specific field.

In my research, I study the susceptibility of cells to undergo cell death and the molecular mechanisms that govern such a cellular response. Specifically, I am interested in a fundamental cellular stress response, termed autophagy (from Greek 'self-eating'). It describes a process by which cells degrade long-lived proteins and damaged organelles. This process, when dysfunctional, leads to early cell death (such as observed in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease), but can also assist the cell not to die (such as in most cancers). I have been interested in cell death for a long time and am captivated by the fundamental role of autophagy in this context. Seeing and measuring the processes involved is captivating and makes the research very real.

How would you describe the relevance of your work?

There is substantial application to exploit autophagy clinically, not only in neurodegeneration and cancers, but also in the aging process. On the one hand, enhanced autophagy, such as brought about through fasting or exercise, has a tremendous impact on a person's health and lifespan. On the other hand, dysfunctional autophagy increases the risk for the development of diseases associated with aging, which includes heart disease and diabetes. Hence, our work may have broader application. It is relevant to clinicians and the public, and for new therapeutic interventions.

Can you tell us more about the impact of your research?

We provide evidence that the control and increase of autophagy can indeed help the cell to remove toxic, aggregated material and proteins, and can thereby impact the onset of nerve cell death.  This offers new hope in highlighting druggable targets (i.e., targets that can be therapeutically modulated by medicines) that are associated with the molecular defect. Likewise, in cancer we have shown that by adjusting autophagy in the presence of a chemotherapeutic drug, we can overcome, to some degree, the cell's ability to resist death. This also provides new hope in the treatment of resistant, poorly treated cancers, such as gliomas (tumours in the brain and spinal cord). The fact that we are using either FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved drugs or physiological interventions, impacts the therapeutic value of our research because it enhances the potential of this work being used in the treatment of cancer. We do this purposefully to shorten the time it takes for our work to be translated into products that have therapeutic value.

Which aspects of your work do you enjoy the most?

What I enjoy most, is to look with my postgraduate students through the confocal/super-resolution microscope, capturing data and sharing in this exciting moment of what the cells reveal. I also enjoy stitching together the pieces of our results like a puzzle that forms a clearer picture and a potential storyline. It is most exciting to brainstorm with my students about that, and about where the data and results are leading us. I also enjoy watching the students becoming independent and passionate about implementing and expanding on what they have learnt. Similarly, I enjoy undergraduate teaching, to link the textbook knowledge to our societal challenges and the problems whose solutions require young scientists with fresh ideas and approaches. It is a wonderful process to witness. In every undergraduate student's ideas and passion for potential postgraduate studies we can find a key approach or answer that we have not thought of. It's an exciting process to be part of.

The pandemic has changed the way we work and live. What has kept you motivated during these times?

The research work had to go on, hence I was motivated to help our postgraduate students return to the lab safely as early as possible. It was important to keep the work going and shift to theoretical approaches and articles to help students stay focused and to encourage them. I felt for undergraduate students and thought about how hard this online class experience must have been for them. Therefore, I made every effort to at least keep my presentations, albeit recorded, as personal and entertaining as possible. I am glad we are back, hands-on. Science is hands-on and real-life engagement with the team is critical.

Tell us something exciting about yourself that people would not expect.

Before the pandemic, I was on par to train for the Comrades Marathon. Now I have to start from scratch. I love these kinds of challenges, to witness my own limits and (hopefully) overcome them. I love music, opera, the arts, black and white portraits and concerts. 

How do you spend your free time away from lectures and research?

I spend my free time with my wife and two boys. My boys (seven and 11) are now at the age where they are often invited to their classmates' birthday parties.  Off late, I have also been spending time and taking joy in training our family dog, a young Hungarian Vizsla, who has now achieved the advanced training level 'In control'. It seems that he is indeed that.