Videos

Olaya
Lara
FWO
VUB

Sidelining Lionel Messi in fight against pancreatic cancer

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. 
Eva
Roose
VUB

Fighting pain after breast cancer: it feels so unfair!

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.
Isabeau
Coopmans
ILVO
KU Leuven

How do you increase farmers' resilience?

The corona pandemic, the energy crisis, the new nitrogen policy, ... Our farmers are having a hard time lately. How do farmers best face such challenges so that they can continue to produce the food on our plates? That is what Isabeau Coopmans investigated in her PhD through surveys and interviews with farmers.
Lianne
van Os
VUB

Curing liver disease with mini livers

Developing new drugs often requires a lot of animal testing. But what if we could develop drugs with fewer laboratory animals? That is what Lianne van Os is doing. Based on 1 mouse liver, she makes some 600 mini-livers in the lab to test new drugs against liver disease.
Shabnam
Zaman
VUB

The wonderful world of frog glue: a sticky topic

You all know the story of the frog prince, but we bet you haven't yet heard this "sticky" version by evolutionary biologist Shabnam Zaman... She is researching frog glue, a defense mechanism found in certain frog species, that could one day help you 🐸 Watch the video - we're pretty sure you will be glued to your screen. 
Michiel
De Proost
VUB

Social egg freezing: good for women's empowerment?

"Freeze your eggs, free your career". This was the headline on the cover of the business magazine Bloomberg Business a few years ago. The reasoning: women could freeze their eggs, to focus on their careers and then maybe have a child later. Sounds good for women's emancipation, but how do women themselves feel about it? Philosopher Michiel De Proost sat down with 21 women to find out.
Maximillian
Weil
VUB

Smart infrastructure will never stay out of tune

We've all seen images of spectacular collapses of large structures, such as the Morandi Bridge in Genoa. What if we could prevent the failure of structures such as bridges, dams, and wind turbines by ... listening to these structures? That's exactly what engineer Maximillian Weil (VUB) is working on. Listen to him talk about good vibrations.
Mathias
Peirlinck
UGent

Understanding the heart better... through digital twins

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.
Pietro
De Angeli

Defeating visual disorders

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.
Munevver
Burcu Cicekdal

Working together to defeat Stargardt disease

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.
Melita
Kaltak

Inherited retinal diseases

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
Iris
Post

Yeast genes as a weapon against Stargardt disease

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.