news 2020

In brief: Sophie Lucas (UCLouvain de Duve Institute) and her team succeeded in neutralising a molecule that blocks the immune system against cancer UCLouvain scientists discovered that this new immunotherapy increases the action of another well-known but not always effective immunotherapy, and that it makes tumour regression possible This very promising discovery in the fight against cancer is published in the prestigious scientific journal Natu

Can network theory help unravel the origin of cardiac arrhythmia? How do plants communicate internally about stress? Can we make thermometers with new nanomaterials that can also administer medication? And can traditional concepts of medical ethics keep up with rapidly succeeding innovations in medicine? These are some of the questions that six young Ghent University researchers will be working on in the coming years.

Researchers have identified for the first time the mechanisms by which communication between cells controls the identity of stem cells from the mammary gland and prostate. The mammary gland and prostate are composed of two different cell types: basal cells and luminal cells. These two cell types are maintained by separate basal and luminal stem cells.

A Belgian patient had COVID-19 twice. She was reinfected 93 days after the first infection and experienced symptoms in both occasions. The virus isolates from her nasal swab test were analysed at KU Leuven. In March 2020, a 51-year-old patient presented to her general physician with a fever, cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, muscle pain and a sudden loss of smell and taste.

For the first time ever, neurophysiologists of KU Leuven, Harvard and the University of Kyoto have succeeded in reversibly disabling a connection between two areas in the brains of primates while they were performing cognitive tasks and their whole brain activity was being monitored. The disconnection had a negative impact on the motivation of the animals, but not on their learning behaviour.

During the lockdown, 26% fewer patients were admitted to Belgian hospitals following a heart attack. "Patients were more reluctant to go to the hospital, but on the upside, people got to unwind and relax more, resulting in fewer heart problem", says cardiologist Marc Claeys (UZA/UAntwerp). With the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, many physicians sounded the alarm in the media: they feared that people with problems unrelated to COVID-19 would put off going to their doctor or even the emergency room out of fear of becoming infected with the virus.

Evolution seems to be a story of continual progress. The weak will perish, according to Darwin's law. Nevertheless, genetic defects that at first glance might make an organism weaker can increase its long-term chances of survival. At first sight, evolution seems to be a story of continual, step-by-step progress.

ExeVir Bio, a technology platform with potential to generate robust antiviral therapies. ExeVir Bio announces today a first closing of a EUR23 million Series A financing led by Fund+, with the participation of VIB, UCB Ventures, the Belgian Federal Government via SFPI-FPIM, V-Bio Ventures and several Belgian family offices.

Researchers from the bio-economics department at the KU Leuven investigated the effects of trade on hunger in the world as a result of climate change. The conclusion is clear: international trade can relieve regional food shortages and reduce hunger, particularly where protectionist measures and other barriers to trade are eliminated.

According to UCLouvain research conducted in collaboration with WHO, Stanford University, and Harvard Medical School, measles vaccination is taking a back seat to the fight against Covid-19 120 million children are at risk of not being vaccinated this year in poor countries, where Covid-19 claims far fewer victims than measles The study was published in the prestigious scientific journal Science Article: https://doi.org/10.1126/sci

The Board of Governors of the 3rd of July 2020 has approved the new policy vision regarding military and dual-use research at Ghent University. This has big implications for research and development at Ghent University as well as research financing by the European Defense Fund in 2021. Research that can possibly be used militarily, is now possible.

The world is eagerly awaiting one or more vaccines to protect us against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We will only be able to fully resume our lives when we are immune to the infection.

Virologists at the Rega Institute at KU Leuven (Belgium) have developed a vaccine candidate that protects hamsters from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Theirs is one of the first vaccine candidates that is proven to protect lab animals from infection. The team aims to start clinical trials next Winter.

Breast cancer patients who are overweight or obese might benefit less from treatment with docetaxel, a common chemotherapy drug, than lean patients. An international team of researchers based this conclusion on a retrospective analysis of data from a large clinical trial. Their study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology .

The first-of-its-kind study by UCLouvain and Stanford researchers reveals that subsidies for the planting of commercially valuable tree plantations in Chile resulted in the loss of biologically valuable natural forests and little, if any, additional carbon sequestration Campaigns to plant huge numbers of trees could backfire, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University, the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Concepción in Chile that is the first to rigorously analyze potential effects of subsidies in such schemes.

As humanity fights against the coronavirus, the battle against antibiotic resistant bacteria continues Scientists at UCLouvain have succeeded in capturing unique images of protein soldiers that help bacteria resist drugs. This discovery is published in the prestigious scientific The image recordings will make it possible to develop new attacks on bacteria and thus produce Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-020-0575-0 The resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is a major health problem.

The measles virus may have emerged as early as the 6 th century BCE, an international team of researchers reports. The finding is based on a virus sample found in Germany that dates back to 1912. It is the oldest human RNA virus genome that has been sequenced to date. The study was published in Science .

Plasma astrophysicists at KU Leuven have created the first self-consistent simulation of the physical processes that occur during a solar flare. The researchers used Flemish supercomputers and a new combination of physical models. Solar flares are explosions on the surface of the Sun that release an enormous amount of energy, equivalent to a trillion 'Little Boy' atomic bombs exploding at the same time.

Objective: increase COVID-19 screening capacity throughout Europe via a mobile, fast and flexible method First phase: Piedmont, Italy , to screen front-line teams (medical, volunteer, police, civil protection) The University of Louvain (UCLouvain ) and the European Space Agency (ESA ) are joining forces to deploy a mobile laboratory capable of testing front-line screening teams : doctors, nurses, volunteers, police, civil protection actors.

They did not sit back during the lockdown! As scientists worldwide, the UNamur researchers were in the battle against Covid-19 since the beginning of the crisis. Their expertise bore around 20 research projects, often in collaboration with other Belgian or foreign universities. Thanks to their initiatives and work, society becomes aware of the importance of research and the numerous disciplines involved when fighting a pandemic.