Hugo J. Bellen MBA, DVM, PhD

Bellen was born in Belgium, where he obtained a masters in business engineering at the Solvay School of Business at the University of Brussels. After working in vineyards and wineries for a brief period in the south of France, he started research in mathematical economics at the University of Antwerp. Not long after, he enrolled as a student in veterinary medicine, obtaining his DVM degree from the University of Ghent.
Hugo Bellen's research interests include (1) neuronal communication and maintenance, (2) development of tools to control transcript and protein levels in adult neurons to assess which proteins are required for neuronal function and survival, and (3) the creation of genome-wide libraries to manipulate genes in vivo. His lab uses Drosophila melanogaster as a model system because most biological processes are evolutionarily conserved and studies in fruit flies provide many important clues about the aging process in animals and humans.