Videos

Karina
Rios Rios
VITO

Feeding your superhero bacteria with prebiotics

Your gut is filled with 'superhero' bacteria that help you maintain your body in a healthy way. These superheroes rely on prebiotics; compounds that help them grow. Karina Rios Rios (VITO) is looking for such prebiotics in unsuspected resources... Find out how she wants to help you feed your superhero bacteria.
Joris
Van Houtven
UAntwerpen
UHasselt
VITO

Pathology-predicting proteins

Imagine being sick and simply being able to ask your body what's going on and what it needs to get better. Well, the proteins in our body can tell us that. But it takes a long time for us to understand what they're saying. With his tool, QCquan.net, bioinformatician Joris Van Houtven is determined to speed up that process!
Sarah Lima
Paralovo
UGent
VITO

How to ensure a healthy indoor air?

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased awareness about the importance of indoor ventilation. But measuring indoor air quality and ventilation rates often requires eco-unfriendly substances or complex and expensive equipment. Luckily, Sarah Lima Paralovo (Universiteit Gent - VITO) is developing a simple method to measure ventilation rates.
Anneleen
Remmerie
UGent
VIB

Fatty Liver Disease: the challenge for the Western world

One in six Belgians is obese and thus runs an increased risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This disease can affect the entire liver, in which case a liver transplant is needed to save the patient. Anneleen Remmerie (Ghent University - VIB) is looking for a way to combat the disease without the need for a new liver.
Jana
Helsen
KU Leuven
VIB

Evolution after gene loss: how the tortoise wins over the hare

"Evolution is like a race: the individual who can reproduce the fastest wins the race. But we all know of one race that was not won by the fastest..." Jana Helsen (KU Leuven - VIB) explains how evolution is sometimes a bit like the fable about the tortoise and the hare.
Esther
Hoste
UGent
VIB

Wound healing by liquorice?

Lots of people dislike these black sweets. But did you know that liquorice candy might well contain an ingredient to help cure wounds? Esther Hoste investigates whether an active compound found in the root of the liquorice plant can heal diabetic wounds 👉 🎥
Mónica
Vara Perez
FWO
KU Leuven
VIB

Understanding the self-cannibalism instincts of melanoma

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.
Charysse
Vandendriessche
UGent
VIB

Fewer calories as a weapon against Alzheimer's disease?

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.

Rahel
Park
KU Leuven
VIB

Who is hitching a ride on a housefly?

Rahel Park has a dilemma for you: what to do if a bunch of flies land on the cake you were just about to eat? Should you eat it anyway or should you throw it away? Watch the video for the -scientifically substantiated- answer!
Arnout
Bruggeman
UGent
VIB

How do intestinal bacteria affect Parkinson's disease?

Imagine if you could influence Parkinson's disease by altering the intestinal bacteria of patients? That sounds strange at first glance, but Arnout Bruggeman explains why it might work.
Sebastian
Proost
KU Leuven
VIB

Bytes and bacteria: software to explore the intestinal flora

What happens when you as thousands of Flemish people to send samples of their stools for scientific research? Well, you get this huge pile of... right, data. Sebastian Proost makes this data readily available to doctors and scientists so that they can acquire new insights from this data in an efficient manner.
Marlies
Vanden Bempt
KU Leuven
VIB

Immunotherapy: why screening patients is key

Immunotherapy is increasingly being used in the fight against cancer. But this therapy does not work for all patients. You would think that if it doesn't work, it doesn't it hurt. Unfortunately, it does! Marlies Vanden Bempt (VIB - KU Leuven) explains why.