Videos

Micro-algae form a healthy protein-rich meal. No wonder this is eaten by astronauts during space travels 👨‍🚀 Joran Verspreet's (VITO) mission is to get this fancy space food onto your plate 🍽

When you enjoy a day on the beach, you want to make sure to wear sunscreen to avoid sunburn. But did you know that quite a few sunscreens contain nanoparticles to help protect your skin from the sun? The use of nanoparticles is strictly regulated and only a limited amount can be used. Milica Velimirovic (VITO) is developing a new & fast analysis method to measure nanoparticles and their quantity in sunscreen. 

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.

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!

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.

"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.

In patients with Alzheimer's, microglia, the immune cells that protect our brains, suddenly start damaging the brain themselves by eating synapses. Ben Rombaut is trying to find out why this happens. In this way, he wants to help ensure that in our old age we can all stay on our toes.

As if developing a cancer drug is not difficult enough, you still have to successfully get that medicine to the tumor. Tim Bomberna (Ghent University) explains how computer simulations show us the way.

Immune cells serve to protect us. In multiple sclerosis, however, some immune cells just turn against the body and damage the nervous system. Sam Vanherle (Hasselt University) wants to detect these 'bad guys' in patients' blood and get them back on the right track. 💉

Did you know that there are already more than 15 medications for multiple sclerosis? Yet the more than 1 million progressive MS patients do not benefit from them, because these drugs only work in the early stages of the disease. Assia Tiane wants to help unravel the disease in order to improve the quality of life of progressive MS patients.

How come medications have long leaflets with a whole list of possible side effects? That is what Hanne Leysen investigates. She looks at how signals are transmitted in our body, zooming in on cellular communication.

Ever heard of a sand fly? If this small fly stings you, you can catch the serious, tropical disease Leishmaniasis. This disease is not easy to combat, because the parasites are masters at hiding in your body. Luckily Laura Dirkx (UAntwerp) has a trick up her sleeve to trace them