news 2019

Antwerp and Ghent scientists discover new drug for deadly disease. Antwerp and Ghent scientists have discovered a new drug against African 'sleeping sickness'. "This disease seems to be on its way out, but it is still very useful to have a new drug to fall back on, because we can't rule out another sudden upswing ", says Prof. Guy Caljon (UAntwerp).

In brief  (20 seconds of reading) : Since 2004, Sophie Lucas, a researcher at the UCLouvain de Duve Institute, has been studying the immune responses that cancer patients can develop against their own tumour She is currently testing a new anti-cancer drug that would strengthen such immune responses This research won the prestigious Academy of Medicine GSK Award , which recognises work in the fields of vaccinology and immunology Sophie Lucas , a researcher at the UCLouvain de Duve Institute , studies the immune responses that cancer patients can develop against their own tumour.

A Europe-wide study conducted over three flu seasons finds that the antiviral drug Tamiflu can help people recover from flu-like illness about one-day sooner on average. Published today in The Lancet, the European Commission-funded 'ALIC4E' study was led by the Universities of Oxford (UK) and Utrecht (The Netherlands).

The University of Antwerp is coordinating a European project to increase efficiency in drug detection With the NarcoReader, the University of Antwerp is collaborating with its international partners to develop a high-tech device that is intended to make the detection of drugs quite a bit more efficient.

Researchers at KU Leuven have developed a technique to make sheep produce new antibodies simply by injecting the DNA building blocks. This approach is much cheaper and more efficient than producing antibodies industrially and administering them afterwards. The study in animals with a similar size as humans brings us a step closer to the clinical use of antibody gene therapy.

Biomedical scientists at KU Leuven and the University of Trento have used gene correction to fix two mutations that cause cystic fibrosis. The breakthrough involved a petri dish with 3D cell structures, or organoids, from cystic fibrosis patients. Cystic fibrosis is the most common genetic disorder in Belgium.

Biomedical researchers at KU Leuven have found a new way to study endometrial diseases such as endometriosis and cancer. They were able to grow three-dimensional cell structures from diseased tissue of patients. The biobank can be used to unravel the disorders and test drugs. Diseases of the endometrium are an important cause of infertility.

Chemotherapy attacks cancer cells but also healthy cells. In children, it often causes irreversible damage that can impact their adult lives. UCLouvain researcher Anabelle Decottignies has found a possible strategy for killing cancer cells, especially in children, without affecting healthy cells , as reported in the scientific journal Molecular Cell .

A team of researchers led by KU Leuven virologist Johan Neyts have discovered a new feature of so-called picornaviruses that may allow for the development of new antiviral medications for the common cold, polio, and other illnesses. Picornaviruses include rhinoviruses and enteroviruses. Rhinoviruses cause millions of cases of upper respiratory infections ("colds") yearly and contribute to asthma, and enteroviruses are responsible for millions of infections including cases such as meningitis, encephalitis and polio.

5 Flemish universities reveal innovative state-of-the-art biotech research No less than 25 technologies in drug screening, therapy development, MedTech, digital health and AI will be showcased or pitched by the five Flemish universities at Europe's leading life sciences conference in Ghent.