Videos

With the current corona pandemic, viruses are seen as more dangerous than ever. But did you know that some viruses can help us fight cancer? Jolien De Munck is studying the potential of these so-called 'oncolytic viruses'.

You see the term "populism" popping up all over the press. But what exactly do Flemish journalists mean when they use that term? That's what communication scientist Jana Goyvaerts is figuring out in her doctorate. She lifts the veil in this video.

Our education system suffers from a shortage of teachers. During her PhD Law researcher Evelien Timbermont (VUB) discovered one of the causes of this problem: the outdated & complicated rules for the employment of teachers. Fortunately, she also knows the solution to this problem.

The current corona crisis is having a huge impact on our lives. Artificial intelligence can help keep such a pandemic better under control, with less drastic measures and thus a more limited impact on our social lives. Pieter Libin explains how this works in this video.

"Some people barely dare to leave their homes because they are so anxious, worried to death to have a panic attack in the supermarket." Therapy and medication can help people with such an anxiety disorder. Still, some people continue to have a hard time. Laura Luyten (KU Leuven) wants to help those people.

An aortic aneurysm is a bulging of the large body artery. If such an aneurysm bursts, the patient can die. You'd think you'd better have surgery for this immediately, but such an operation is complex and risky. That is why engineer Klaas Vander Linden (KU Leuven)is trying to predict whether an aneurysm will burst.

Chemotherapy affects the brains of patients. It can lead to cognitive complaints, stress, and fatigue. Michelle Melis achieves promising results with mindfulness in patients with breast cancer. 

What is the link between a smoothie and the analysis of cancer tumours? Well, Sebastiaan Vanuytven explains it smooth(l)y in this video

To make the production of plastics and other chemical processes less energy-intensive and waste-producing, Max Bols turns to nature. Enzymes, the catalysts of living cells, hold the key to improve chemical processes, as he explains in this video. 

A dog's nose is one of the most powerful sensors we have. Trained dogs are even able to detect early signs of certain diseases by sniffing our breath. As this would not be very practical, Alex Cruz is looking to integrate a doglike 'nose' in our smartphones to do the trick.

Every year 300,000 people - as many as the number of inhabitants of Antwerp - contract the tropical disease Leishmaniasis. Still, chances are that you have never heard of the Leishmania parasite, because this deadly disease gets little attention. So Lieselotte Van Bockstal decided to devote her entire doctorate to it.

Melanoma is a very common and lethal type of skin cancer. Melanoma cells have a strange, yet effective defence mechanism called autophagy: they can manage to survive by eating parts of themselves. Monica Vara Perez tries to figure out this self-cannibalism mechanism in order to help defeat melanoma.