Videos

Each of us has lost a precious plant to aphids or other insects before. Unfortunately, most insecticides to combat these creatures are harmful to the environment. That's why Tessa Acar is committed to the development of a new and better weapon: bacteria that can fight insects.

In order to provide the growing world population with sufficient protein, Reindert Devlamynck (University of Ghent) focuses on duckweed. In addition to ducks, he also wants people to eat this tasty little plant and is setting a good example for himself 🍽

Mice that follow a low-calorie diet appear to be protected against the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Charysse Vandendriessche is investigating why this is the case to gather more insight in the underlying disease mechanism. This information could into the future contribute to the development of a treatment against this devastating disease.

Do you know where these worms live? Well, they actually live in the intestines of humans. A quarter of the world population is infected with these soil-transmitted helminths. Sara Roose is developing a new diagnostic test to help fight human worm infections.

Fertilization is crucial in agriculture, but over-fertilization causes environmental pollution and all-rich algae growth in our watercourses. Wouldn't it be great if plants and crops could grow well with less fertilizer? That's what Astrid Gadeyne wants to achieve in her PhD.

Frederik Engelen is working on vaccines for cattle. This way, he wants to ensure that beef does not become contaminated with a dangerous variant of the e-coli bacterium.

Not all mothers can breastfeed, which is a pity, because breastfeeding contains important molecules for the baby. But what if we add these molecules to powdered milk? That is what Anke Goormans is working on to help mothers and their babies.

Lucas Vanhaelewyn (Universiteit Gent) studies plants to try to unravel how they actually 'see' and respond to different types of lights. This knowledge can help to optimize the conditions for plants and crops to grow better.

So-called "smart devices" aren't always as smart as you might think. Bram Steenwinckel (imec - Universiteit Gent) fuses artificial intelligence with the knowledge of experts to make them smarter.

"If we would cover the entire surface of Portugal with solar panels , this would generate enough energy to power the entire world. But of course, no Portuguese would ever allow this. But what about using their windows?" Jacopo Sala talks about new generation of solar panels.

"In the early days, a computer was the size of a storage room. But today, this computer wouldn't stand a chance against the smartphone in your pocket" How is this even possible? Well, thanks to the nanotechnology inside your smartphone. In his PhD Balakumar Baskaran zooms in on the nanoscale