Videos

Artificial feeding, such as parenteral nutrition -food that is injected directly into the bloodstream- is crucial for critically ill patients. It keeps them alive, but unfortunately, it can cause significant liver damage in the long run. To prevent liver injury, Milos Mihajlovic and his colleagues are developing an advanced human liver model in a dish to better understand how food injection leads to liver damage.

In the last decade, wildfires peaked at record numbers in different countries across the world. These fires destroy houses and burn down forests, but they also have other important 'unseen' effects. "Smoke from wildfires leads to high air pollution, which is associated with short and long-term risks, such as respiratory and cardiac diseases", as Leonidas Leiva explains. He's working on new materials to recognize, capture and neutralize these contaminants.

Over the past five years, solid progress has been made in the fight against cancer, but unfortunately, that does not apply to pancreatic cancer. So what makes this cancer so hard to beat? Olaya Lara (VUB) explains this by comparing it to a football match. She also tells you what tactics she figures out to sideline xCT, the Lionel Messi in the pancreatic cancer team. 

The fight against breast cancer does not stop with overcoming cancer. 1 in 3 women continue to experience pain symptoms even during a harmless activity such as cycling. Physiotherapist Eva Roose (VUB) wants to help these breast cancer survivors reset their pain alarms.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. One out of 4 people dies from it. To improve treatment options for patients suffering from heart disease, mechanical engineer Mathias Peirlinck develops digital twins of patient hearts. Digital what? Watch Mathias (and his digital twin) explain it in this video.

Worldwide, 6 million people suffer from inherited visual disorders. And today, no treatment is available yet. Pietro De Angeli is one of the scientists that try to tackle this kind of disease at its roots: the genes. Because these inherited visual disorders arise due to defects in the genes. De Angeli is trying to find a unique, safe & effective therapeutic approach to correct genetic defects.

Did you know that one in 10,000 people worldwide suffer from an inherited retinal disease, such as Stargardt disease, and lose sight? Stargardt disease is caused by a fault in a specific gene, called ABCA4, and to this date it is incurable. To change this, Munnever Burcu and 13 other researchers with different backgrounds working all over Europe joined forces in the StarT Consortium. Their goal is to find a cure by investigating the disease from different angles. Burcu explains how they want to approach this.

Have you ever heard of Stargardt disease? This is a rare, inherited disease that can cause severe damage to the retina of your eye. When that happens, it can lead to partial or complete blindness. This can affect children or can arise in early adulthood. To tackle this disease, as well as other inherited retinal diseases, PhD researcher Melita Kaltak focuses her efforts on mutations in the mRNA. The goal is to develop novel RNA therapies, specific to each patient, as she explains in this video

Imagine the world slowly getting darker and darker. Your vision is deteriorating and there is nothing you can do about it. That, unfortunately, is the reality for people with Stargardt's disease. In her doctoral research, Iris Post is trying to find a cure by using yeast genes. Watch her explain how this may help fight Stargardt's disease.

Anyone who has ever looked for Waldo knows how hard he is to find. In her research on lung cancer, Rebekka Van Hoof (Uhasselt - KU Leuven - VITO) faces a similar task: she is searching within more than 100,000 so-called extracellular vesicles for 2 types -say 'Waldos'- that can help detect the disease early. But she is determined to narrow her search field. How? Watch her explain it in this video. 

Snoring is very annoying in itself (especially for roommates), but sometimes there is more to it. In some people, the upper airway closes up to 15 times an hour during sleep. This condition has obstructive sleep apnoea. Sara Op de Beeck explains how she wants to use data to help patients get the best treatment, so that it can be quiet in their bedroom again. 😴

Cancer is a sneaky disease. For instance, cancer cells sometimes manage to disguise themselves, outrunning our immune system. Gils Roex (UAntwerpen - FWO) explains how equipping our white blood cells with a cleverly designed CAR could well help win the race against blood cancer. Want to know more? Fasten your seatbelts & watch the video 🏎