Videos

Why do some people get a cold every month, while others seem immune, even in the wintertime? 🤧 "The answer lies in our genes," says Alejandro Correa Rojo. "Each of us carries a unique genetic code, that can tell how you will respond to a disease." After studying the DNA of thousands of people, Alejandro developed a Genetic Risk Score. This single number tells how you are at risk for a specific disease compared to others. Find out more in the video.

Where does the clean, potable water flowing from our taps actually come from? "In Flanders, we extract our drinking water from various raw water sources, such as underground reserves, canals and rivers. This water is then thoroughly purified by drinking water companies so that it is safe for consumption," explains VITO researcher Joni Dehaspe. She explains why it is important to continuously monitor raw water quality in real time.

Every machine, from your phone to rockets in space, heats up and needs to cool down. To keep your devices from overheating, heat exchangers and heat sinks play a crucial role in absorbing and dissipating excess heat. But how can we make these systems even better? Samanwitha Kolli is keeping it cool with 3D-printing technology!

Chemical pollutants such as PFAS or UV filters are omnipresent. They are used in cosmetics, toys, or food packaging materials. But we don't understand how they affect the human body because we don't have a clear picture of how they interact in the body. This is why Andrea Rodriguez Carrillo wants to follow the journey that chemicals take from the moment they enter your body.

Did you know that 1 in 4 products that surround you contains precious metals? Think about your phone, laptop, or car. "Since these metals are rare and expensive, we urgently need better ways to recycle them", says Omar Martinez (VITO - KU Leuven). His PhD has led to a breakthrough solution: he developed a new, sustainable method, called GDEx, which allows for the selective recovery of these precious metals, with nearly 100% efficiency.

Do you know what happens with your blood sample after a visit to the doctor for a check-up? Your blood sample undergoes testing for common biomolecules like cholesterol, glucose, or vitamin D. Modern technology allows for testing beyond these basics, generating vast amounts of data. Dries Heylen is developing visualizations and analytical techniques to help researchers make sense of this complex data, providing deeper insights into how specific biomolecules relate to diseases and which ones are crucial to monitor. Bloody genius, right?

Have you ever enjoyed a delicious smoothie? The way this tasty drink is made has similarities to how Alzheimer's disease research has been approached in the past decades. In this video, Lara De Deyn explains why she chooses a fruit salad approach in her research. A very nice metaphor to tell how Alzheimer's disease research is evolving.

Why do people get cancer, arthritis, or Alzheimer's? Essentially because a protein key in our body does not fit in its respective lock. This is why Alvaro Martin is looking at removing defective keys and designing new protein keys. Keys that fit and can open the necessary locks, so that for example, our immune cells target and kill cancerous cells. "Protein design can be the key to unlocking a future without diseases."

Have you ever heard of the mysterious "crazy root disease"? Sounds like something you'd rather not have in your garden or greenhouse, right? 🌱 Find out more about this bizarre plant disease and how the VIB and the KU Leuven are determined to get rid of it! 💡✨

Why is it that some plants like moss stay very small, while others grow to become large trees? 🌳 "There's still a lot that we don't know about how plants grow exactly", says Max Minne (VIB - UGent). To find out more Max uses an innovative technique that allows him to look at every single cell in the plant and unravel how the hormone cytokinin, responsible for plant growth, impacts each one of them. 

Up to 25% of the cells present in lung cancer tumours are currently ignored. As such, we don't know what the role of these so-called B cells is. "It is crucial to figure that out because we cannot efficiently fight something we do not fully understand," says Pauline Bardet (VUB - VIB - FWO).

In her PhD, she wants to get to the bottom of those B cells and thus find out whether those cells are "good guys" or "bad guys".

Roughly every 5 minutes someone on this planet dies of ALS, and the sad truth is that we still do not have an effective treatment to cure this disease. The problem lies in the fact that we do not fully understand what causes ALS in the first place. In his doctorate, Jimmy Beckers is trying to solve a piece of the puzzle. He is investigating whether a malfunction in our internal cellular recycling system might be linked to ALS.