Désiré Collen
Encyclopedia
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
. He was born in Sint-Truiden
Sint-Truiden
Sint-Truiden is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, near the towns of Hasselt and Tongeren. The municipality includes the old communes of Aalst, Brustem, Duras, Engelmanshoven, Gelinden, Gorsem, Groot-Gelmen, Halmaal, Kerkom-bij-Sint-Truiden,...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
.
Education
He graduated as an M.D. at the Katholieke Universiteit LeuvenKatholieke Universiteit Leuven
The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...
in 1968 and obtained a PhD in chemistry in 1974.
Career
He started his career as in 1968-1971 as a Resident in Internal Medicine at the University Hospitals of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.Since 2002 he has been a professor at the Centre for Molecular en Vascular Biology, and he is also head of the VIB Département of Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy, K.U.Leuven. Together with professor Billiau he discovered Tissue plasminogen activator
Tissue plasminogen activator
Tissue plasminogen activator is a protein involved in the breakdown of blood clots. It is a serine protease found on endothelial cells, the cells that line the blood vessels. As an enzyme, it catalyzes the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin, the major enzyme responsible for clot breakdown...
(tPA) in 1979. He is the founder of the Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
biotech company Thromb-X
Thromb-X
Thromb-X is a Belgian biotech company. It was founded in 1991 by Professor Désiré Collen, an expert in cardiovascular disease, of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and head of the VIB Departement of Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy, K.U.Leuven....
.
Awards
- 1984: Francqui PrizeFrancqui PrizeThe Francqui Prize is a prestigious Belgian scholarly and scientific prize, awarded each year since 1933 by the Francqui Foundation in recognition of the achievements of a young Belgian scholar or scientist...
on Biological and Medical Sciences. - 1985: Louis-Jeantet Prize for MedicineLouis-Jeantet Prize for MedicineThe Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine is awarded annually by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation to biomedical researchers in Europe; the awards are made each April...
, together with Luc MontagnierLuc MontagnierLuc Antoine Montagnier is a French virologist and joint recipient with Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus...
and Michael BerridgeMichael BerridgeSir Michael John Berridge, FRS FMedSci is a Rhodesian-born British physiologist and biochemist. He is best known for his work on cellular transmembrane signalling, in particular the discovery that inositol trisphosphate acts as a second messenger, linking events at the plasma membrane with the...
. - 2005: Interbrew-Baillet Latour Health Prize, together with Peter CarmelietPeter CarmelietPeter Carmeliet is a Belgian physician and professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven . He is also Adjunct Director of the VIB Department of Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy, K.U.Leuven...
.