Videos

Sujith Reddy is working on perovskites, a promising new solar cell technology that captures more sunlight and costs less than conventional solar cells. Sounds great, right! But there's a catch: these perovskite solar cells ironically tend to break down when exposed to ... light. Sujith wants to uncover the mechanisms behind this degradation in order to improve perovskites and to use them on a larger scale.

Fighting cancer with wisdom teeth - it almost sounds like the tooth fairy's fairy tale. And yet it is a fairy tale that could well come true. Jolien Van den Bosch (UHasselt) wants to use stem cells from wisdom teeth to develop a new therapy against cancer. One could even say she's fighting ... tooth and nail to make this happen.

Meet Sarra Zaghbouni. She unleashes nano-sized diamonds to decode the brain's secrets! 💎🧠 Teaming up with physicists, she's creating these tiny carbon heroes that sense and control temperature, allowing her to study how this affects the growth of neurons 🌡️ This research could help accelerate healing after brain injuries!

A stupid accident, cancer, or a hernia - it can all cause a spinal cord injury in which certain parts of your body are then paralysed. But there is also a hidden effect - an effect in the blood, explains Naomi Veeningen (UHasselt) 🩸

Biologist Nikol Kmentová is fascinated by ... parasites. Why? Because they are the most successful life form on earth. To find out why they are the true champions of life on Earth, Nikol tries to unravel the secrets of these fascinating creatures in the depths of Lake Tanganyika in Africa. In this video, she reveals the strategies that allow parasites to thrive in one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet!

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".

The year is 2040. A drone just landed on your doorstep, delivering your favorite pizza, which you just ordered a few minutes ago. 🍕 😋 What a time to be alive right?! To make this scenario a reality, Adnan Albaba (Imec - VUB) is working on radar technology to make self-navigating drones.

Why is it that Muslim migrants seem to become more religious after arriving in Europe, in a secular society? That's what Saimum Parvez (VUB) is investigating. He's looking into the case of Bangladeshi migrants, by raising questions such as: how do they participate in religious rituals? Do they see themselves as religious? And what impact does migration have on their religion?

Once diagnosed with glioblastoma, a highly aggressive brain cancer, a patient has on average only 15 months to live. "This terrible statistic shows that we urgently need new treatment options," says Myrthe Mampay (VUB - FWO). In her research, she is looking for one such new treatment based on immunotherapy, in which she wants to use patient stem cells to make macrophages that attack the tumour.

"Scientific information has to play a bigger role in the process of decision-making in policy." This is Ante Ivčević firm belief. In his research, he seeks to understand how policymakers make decisions and, more importantly, how we can get them to make these decisions based on scientific information. To investigate this, he researches science and policy regarding coastal areas in the Mediterranean basin.

Should you be worried if, for instance, your cholesterol level is above the normal value? Not necessarily. As Murih Pusparum (VITO - UHasselt) argues: test results are often compared to a standard range of normal values, while every person might have his or her own range depending on age, gender, and genetic or biological traits. That's why she is working on more personalised diagnosis.

Did you know that the average lifespan of a wind turbine is 20 years? After that, unfortunately, wind turbines end up in landfills as they are built from thermosets, materials that can't be recycled (yet). "It's time to change that", says Marlies Thys. She is looking into making recyclable thermosets by using ... wood waste.