Videos

"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.

"We must learn to talk about death, also in the workplace". Xenia Geysemans investigates how employers can better support grieving employees. Currently, employers are often too absent. In this video, Xenia offers 4 concrete tips.

Do you often listen to music with headphones or earphones? Then prick up your ears for the research of Tom De Neve (Arteveldehogeschool). He wants to make sure that you can listen to music safely, without damaging your hearing.

In Belgium, every year more than 25,000 people return to work after cancer treatment. Yet there are many employers who do not know how to react in such a situation. Elise Pattyn (Arteveldehogeschool) and her colleagues are working on tools to make the return to work smoother.

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.

People who had chickenpox as a child seem to be better protected against herpes zoster, better known as zona or shingles, at a later age. Using mathematic modeling, James Wambua (Hasselt University) is therefore investigating whether it is advisable to vaccinate children in Belgium against this childhood disease.

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.

Cracking codes, it's a thing in escape rooms. But it is also what Bénedith Oben tries, albeit in the laboratory. In this way, she hopes to find the key to better understand the development of multiple myeloma, a common blood cancer.

To have a conversation and interact in a meaningful way, you have to be constantly aware of what has already been said. You have to remember the recent past. But how does that work? How does our brain create a memory? That's what Lies Deceuninck (Imec - KU Leuven) is researching.

Wouldn't it be great if you could have your own virus detection facility at home, or even in your pocket? That's what Boshen Liang & his colleagues at imec & Ku Leuven are working on via so-called lab-on-chip technology.

Imagine having to visit the toilet 30 times a day for 'number two'. That's not possible, right? Unfortunately, it's the reality for a lot of patients with rectal cancer who've had rectal surgery. Anne Asnong tries to help these people so that they no longer have to spend their life 'chained' to the toilet seat. 🚽