Videos

Leila Paquay turns to funghi and bacteria to grow high-quality industrial hemp - not to be confused with drug type cannabis.

Every year about 8,000 people in Belgium develop lung cancer. These people may get the same diagnosis, but their bodies react differently. Elien Derveaux (Universiteit Hasselt) examines whether, on the basis of these differences, we can predict which treatment is most suitable for the patient.

Why do some people get sick more easily than others? This is often due to differences in our immune systems. Nicolas De Neuter (UAntwerp) hopes to understand these differences, in order to develop better and more efficient personalized immune therapies.

According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic-resistant superbacteria will kill 10 million people worldwide every year by 2050. Bjorn Criel and his colleagues at Ghent University want to put a stop to this. They're counting on special allies: bacteriophages.

Ever heard of tidal marshes? These are areas that are regularly inundated by the tide. They protect us from floods and ensure better water quality in our rivers. How does that work? Niels van Putte (UAntwerpen) tells you all about in this pitch! (Warning: this video is 'flooded' with faint puns).

Did you know that your supermarket has a 'psychic' on the payroll? Well not exactly, but they have a forecaster, someone in charge of predicting future sales so your supermarket doesn't run out of stock. A very challenging task. Luckily the forecaster can count on software for help. Shari De Baets looks at how forecasters and computers can work together to make sure their predictions are accurate and customers are served and satisfied.

Recycling plastic is kind of like eating spaghetti. With this analogy Christian Taplan introduces us into the world of plastic recycling. Christian is working on a new and very promising type of recyclable plastic materials, called 'vitrimers'.

Not every leader is a manager, and not every manager is a leader. This is a very simple truth that anyone will agree with. If not synonymous to "manager", then what exactly makes someone a "leader"? And what happens when we have no manager at all, and all we are left with is informal leadership?

Did you know that 1 in 100 people who develop cancer are under 18 years of age? In order to diagnose cancer, a surgical biopsy is often required. But Ruben Van Paemel and his colleagues want to change this. They want to detect cancer in children by taking a simple blood sample.

Winter, with its cold temperatures, is not the favourite season of our farmers. Certain plants and crops suffer greatly from the cold. But did you know that these plants themselves have the key to withstand the cold? Antoine Persyn explains exactly how this works.

Did you know that cancer researchers draw inspiration from applications such as Amazon, Facebook and even Tinder? Armed with a supercomputer, Celine Everaert, like these applications, processes large amounts of data. Not to sell books or to help people get on a date, but to offer cancer patients personalised treatments.

Did you know that breast cancer is the second most common cancer for women, affecting 1.7 million women worldwide? In her research Ovia Margaret Thirukkumaran is trying to decipher how cancer cells communicate and develop resistance against drugs in so called HER 2 breast cancer, a very aggressive form of breast cancer.