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Human glioblastoma tumors are aggressive hard-to-treat brain cancers that have a high unmet need for new treatment options. A team of researchers led by Prof. Kiavash Movahedi and Prof. Jo Van Ginderachter (VIB-VUB), in collaboration with colleagues from VIB, VUB, and KU Leuven, have mapped the immune landscape in these glioblastoma tumors.

What if heart specialists could simulate the fitting of a new heart valve in 4D before an operation? 4D CT scanners add the dimension of time to three-dimensional images and visualise the movement of the heart in detail.

A new study led by Belgian and Spanish researchers published in Scientific Reports adds evidence about the potential benefits of green tea extracts in Down syndrome. The researchers observed that the intake of green tea extracts can reduce facial dysmorphology in children with Down syndrome when taken during the first three years of life.

A method that instructs immune system cells to help repair damaged tissues in the intestine has been developed by researchers at KU Leuven and Seoul National University. This opens the way for more effective treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The study was carried out on humans and mice.

Mobiel 21 and Netwerk Duurzame Mobiliteit (Network Sustainable Mobility), with researchers from the University of Ghent and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, have investigated the underlying factors of transport poverty.

KU Leuven researchers have identified the biological mechanism that explains why some people experience abdominal pain when they eat certain foods. The finding paves the way for more efficient treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and other food intolerances. Up to 20% of the world's population suffers from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which causes stomach pain or severe discomfort after eating.

Creating stem cells that can give rise to any cell type in the early embryo and its supporting structures, including the placenta: some call it 'the holy grail' of stem cell research. An international team of researchers offer new criteria to determine whether a mouse stem cell line has this much-wanted ability, known as totipotency.

From stars in another galaxy to a microscopic virus that has taken hold of the entire Earth: in this overview we present the most-read news items about research at KU Leuven in 2020. Bioscience engineers and economists from KU Leuven mapped out how wood could replace petroleum in the chemical industry.

Today, virologists at the KU Leuven Rega Institute published the results of their pre-clinical study into a Covid-19 vaccine candidate in  Nature . Their paper builds on a preprint that the team shared on bioRxiv earlier this year, and that  we reported on. The vaccine candidate is based on the yellow fever vaccine and thus also protects against yellow fever.

This year, Ghent University has no less than 25 researchers with Highly Cited status. This is another fine recognition of the quality of its publications and their scientific impact.

New research has shown that the antidepressant sertraline helps to inhibit the growth of cancer cells. The substance acts on a metabolic addiction that allows different types of cancer to grow. This is shown by a study on cell cultures and lab animals performed by various research labs of KU Leuven.

UAntwerp involved in large-scale international research to be published in The Lancet. School-aged children who are given anti-malaria drugs preventively are only half as likely to catch the disease. And that's not all: their risk of anaemia decreases by 15%, and their school performance improves. All this has been demonstrated by international research in which the University of Antwerp was also involved.

Virologists at the Rega Institute have shown that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine does not limit SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus replication in hamsters. A high dose of the anti-flu drug favipiravir, by contrast, has an antiviral effect in the hamsters. The team published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) .

In brief: Patrice Cani (UCLouvain) and Claude Knauf (INSERM) have discovered a 'jammer' that blocks communication between the gut and the brain, thus preventing proper regulation of sugar and causing insulin resistance in people with diabetes They also discovered that a lipid produced by our body helps prevent this dysfunction and regulate sugar level, thus mitigating diabetes and intestinal inflammation.

An international consortium led by Isabelle Meyts (KU Leuven) and Stuart Tangye (Garvan Institute) has published its findings on COVID-19 outcomes in individuals with rare inherited immune disorders known as PIDs. Compared to the general population, these patients had similar disease outcomes, but they were more likely to need intensive care and their average age was lower.

River blindness is the root cause, and nodding disease can easily be controlled by administering an anti-parasitic drug and exterminating the blackfly. For several years now, researchers from the University of Antwerp have been collaborating with African scientists to investigate the causes of 'nodding disease', a mysterious form of epilepsy that only affects children on the African continent.

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.