VIB Blog's pressreleases

Science beyond institutes: Citizen science at VIB At VIB, we strive to translate our fundamental science into tangible benefits for society. One of the ways in which we do so, is by involving citizens. More than measurement First coined in the 1989 January issue of MIT Technology Review, citizen science has become a growing and important part of the scientific enterprise. While exact definitions …

From live action to the molecular backstory of single cells Tech Watch scouts the wave of new platforms targeting live single-cell characterization Single-cell biology has long forced researchers into an uncomfortable trade-off: watch what a cell does, or find out what it expresses, but rarely both on the same cell. Most tools capture static snapshots of inherently dynamic processes, leaving a ga…

Building belonging: Inside Leuven’s Inclusion & Diversity Committee The Inclusion & Diversity Committee in Leuven has grown into a vibrant, grassroots community where researchers, technicians, and communicators come together to make science more human, connected, and welcoming. In this conversation with Bethan Burnside, other committee members across the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Neuroscience, VIB…

The very first cell division - Meet Tom Dendooven Following a PhD and postdoc at Cambridge, Tom Dendooven recently joined the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology as group leader. Backed by an ERC Starting Grant, his research tackles sperm development and how this goes awry in male infertility. Vita Cooman and Florence Thys (both PhD students at CSB) ask him a some questions, ranging from moving…

Two weeks in Turku Emma Lemmens dipped into untargeted metabolomics, ice-cold water, and a fresh dose of motivation Emma Lemmens, PhD student in the Raes lab, arrived in the Finnish university town of Turku for a two-week research stay to learn how to use a new analytical pipeline. She also came back with renewed confidence, fresh motivation, and a stronger sense that she had found the right plac…

From Antwerp to Flanders as Nanopore Day keeps growing What began as a local idea between colleagues has quickly grown into a meeting point for the wider long-read sequencing community in Flanders Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) has opened up new possibilities in genomics and transcriptomics. One of its best-known strengths is long-read sequencing: the ability to read much longer stretches of …

The lost world of farmhouse brewing And the yeasts that survived it Today, beer brewing is all about precision. Breweries rely on carefully selected yeast strains, tightly controlled fermentation, and standardized processes designed to produce the same result every time. That consistency is one of the great achievements of industrial brewing, but it also came at a cost. Much of the diversity that…

From lab to patient: Why European biotech is at a crossroads Innovation only succeeds when it demonstrably creates value for both patients and the healthcare system. How can biotech and pharmaceutical players design their R&D strategies so that medical innovation reaches patients faster, more precisely, and in an affordable way? An interview with Jérôme Van Biervliet and Frank Hulstaert. This art…

A cross-center collaboration to tackle genetic epilepsies An interuniversity project funded by the Queen Elisabeth Medical Foundation combines stem cell models and AI to study rare genetic epilepsies. What happens when cutting-edge stem cell models meet advanced computational modeling? According to Sarah Weckhuysen (VIB-UAntwerp Center for Molecular Neurology) and Pedro Gonçalves (VIB.AI, KU Leuv…

Inside the science of endometriosis-associated pain An Interview with Eleonora Persoons from the Vriens/Voets Lab and Vaidi Plovie from Endo.Insideout vzw March marks Endometriosis Awareness Month, a time when the experiences of millions of people living with this condition are given the visibility they deserve. We interview Eleonora Persoons, who works in close collaboration between the labs of …

On dealing with large volumes of sensitive data How the De Preter lab became the first users of VIB Data Core’s new secure compute cluster When researchers at the De Preter lab set out to benchmark tools for detecting cancer biomarkers in cell-free DNA, they knew the science would be demanding—large volumes of sensitive patient data, GDPR compliance, and months of intensive computation. They also…

Introducing the Neurodiversity Guide: a workplace guide from the lived experience perspective "This guide isn’t just for neurodivergent people — it’s for everyone" In this candid and thoughtful interview, Meine Ramakers, research technician at the Switch Lab (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Neuroscience) reflects on her late autism diagnosis and the journey that led her to create the Neurodiversity Guid…

Two labs, one question: MAGISTER begins First laureates of the Fund Stéphanie Willems (King Baudouin Foundation), tackling glucocorticoid resistance in polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA) Glucocorticoids are the cornerstone treatment for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA), yet a substantial group of patients barely responds to them while still suff…

Proteomics for patients and society How the VIB Proteomics Core is rebuilding its pipeline to power clinical studies, patient diagnostics, and biomarker discovery The VIB Proteomics Core is rebuilding its pipeline, aiming for high throughput through faster sample preparation, cutting-edge mass spectrometry, and interactive data analysis. This upgrade is also part of unlocking something that matte…

From discovery to diagnosis: turning research insights into tools for patients An interview with Siele Ceuppens, Senior Scientist at VIB Discovery Sciences A promising scientific discovery in the lab does not automatically translate into a tool that doctors can use to treat patients. Between those two stages lies an important step: transforming research insights into reliable diagnostic tests tha…

Modern science needs stronger infrastructure, and a new generation is rising to build it Behind every cutting-edge experiment is a growing need for people who can build, manage, and future-proof the infrastructure that makes science possible. With its first ARISE fellow from EMBL, VIB is joining a European effort to train exactly that new generation of research technology professionals. VIB is ho…

Building bridges from science to society Called to Science with Jiska van der Reest VIB’s podcast Called to Science is back for a second season! In this series, we sit down with researchers to go beyond the research to explore the passion, setbacks, and big questions that drive them forward. In one episode, science journalist Brad Van Paridon speaks with Jiska van der Reest, Business Development …

1 million Euro for research into Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease Albena Jordanova receives Generet Prize for rare diseases People living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease may receive a diagnosis, but there is no treatment, and very often even the real cause remains unclear. Prof. Dr. Albena Jordanova (VIB-UAntwerp) has spent years working alongside affected families to find answers. She has now …

Germ-free mice and gut inflammation - Meet Lars Vereecke As newly minted VIB Expert scientist and associate professor at UGent, Lars Vereecke leads the Host-Microbiota-Interaction lab at the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation research. His lab established the first Belgian germ-free and gnotobiotic mouse facility and is part of the Ghent Gut Inflammation group. He is also a group leader at the Can…

Proteomics at scale How the VIB Proteomics Core is future-proofing its pipeline For years, the VIB Proteomics Core operated as what you might call a traditional proteomics discovery platform. The services it provided researchers with ranged from classic protein analysis, protein-protein interactions, and post-translational modifications—the bread and butter of discovery work. But the questions be…