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Research at Ghent University shows that COVID-19 pandemic affects mental health and daily lives of autistic adults. Research group EXPLORA (Ghent University) has set up an online survey to investigate the effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and daily lives of adults on the autism spectrum.

The accumulation of one particular protein in the brain is at the basis of three very different age-related conditions. Until recently, nobody understood how this was possible. Research by the Laboratory for Neurobiology and Gene Therapy now reveals that the shape of the protein determines the clinical picture.

Antwerp researchers launch website to compare coronavirus impact per country. All European countries are currently fighting the coronavirus. The capacity of their respective health systems will play a decisive role in their efforts to combat COVID-19. UAntwerp scientists have developed a method to compare the pressure on different countries' health systems in real time.

Scientists have composed a complete map of the cells in the developing human thymus. They identified more than 50 different cell states in the human thymus which dynamically change in abundance during life. For the first time, scientists from the VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent University, The Wellcome Sanger Institute (UK), and Newcastle University (UK) have composed a complete map of the cells in the developing human thymus.

In the event of a bone fracture, fatty acids in our blood signal to stem cells that they have to develop into bone-forming cells. If there are no blood vessels nearby, the stem cells end up forming cartilage. The finding that specific nutrients directly influence the development of stem cells opens new avenues for stem cell research.

The lab of professor Xavier Saelens (VIB-Ghent University) is quickly mobilizing to try to find a treatment for the viral infection caused by the corona virus. Since the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak was reported by China in December 2019, the number of confirmed cases of the virus is increasing rapidly, with cases now reported in 28 countries.

Biomedical scientists at KU Leuven have discovered that a defect in the ATP13A2 gene causes cell death by disrupting the cellular transport of polyamines. When this happens in the part of the brain that controls body movement, it can lead to Parkinson's disease. With more than six million patients around the world, Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders.

In brief  (18 seconds of reading): Olivier Feron , a UCLouvain researcher, studies how cancer spreads through the body via metastasis His major discovery was that cancer cells multiply by using lipids as food. His latest discovery, published in the scientific , is that lipid storage promotes cancer invasiveness A new drug currently being tested to treat obesity may also help fight metastasis Olivier Feron, a researcher at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research, seeks to understand how metastases form from a tumour.

Herman Goossens (UAntwerp) is following the events closely to ensure health and security of European citizens.

Researchers from KU Leuven and University Hospitals Leuven have managed to engineer living implants in the lab by mimicking how bone tissue is created in an embryo. The technology paves the way for bone-regenerating tissue implants created on an industrial scale using 3D bioprinting. The researchers expect the first living implants to be available to patients in four years.

Oxytocin, often dubbed the 'love hormone', is known to promote social bonding. Researchers at KU Leuven have now discovered that administering oxytocin to adult men with autism makes them more open to close emotional bonds with others. The hormone has positive long-term effects as well. A team led by Professor Kaat Alaerts (KU Leuven) recruited 40 adult men with autism spectrum disorder to take part in their study.  "In a first stage, we examined the amount of oxytocin produced by the participants themselves.

Bioscience engineers from KU Leuven in Belgium have developed a new antibacterial strategy that weakens bacteria by preventing them from cooperating. Unlike with antibiotics, there is no resistance to this strategy, because the non-resistant bacteria outnumber resistant ones. The findings are published.

An interdisciplinary team of scientists from KU Leuven, the University of Bremen, the Leibniz Institute of Materials Engineering, and the University of Ioannina has succeeded in killing tumour cells in mice using nano-sized copper compounds together with immunotherapy. After the therapy, the cancer did not return.

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).

Wednesday 18 December saw the official inauguration of the Antwerp Biobank, a joint UZA/UAntwerp project. The biobank is invaluable in terms of scientific research and medical progress. The brand-new Antwerp Biobank processes and stores a wide range of high-quality human bodily material. This may be what's known as residual material, which is any bodily material that remains after a diagnostic examination or medical procedure, but most samples have been prospectively collected for research purposes.

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).

Researchers from VIB-Ghent Universitiy Center for Medical Biotechnology and other collaborators, developed a novel approach to better understand a basic defense mechanism of our immune system. Central is ISG15, a small protein with a role in the immune system. With the newly developed method, scientists can now identify and study proteins tagged with ISG15, allowing them to unravel its many functions in fighting disease, potentially leading to novel antimicrobial drugs.

Why do some patients with Crohn's disease still suffer from abdominal pain, even when their treatment is successful? With funding from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, researchers from Belgium and Sweden will spend the next three years examining the underlying mechanisms of this pain. Approximately 3 out of 1000 people have Crohn's disease, which is characterised by intestinal inflammation.

For the first time ever, researchers from KU Leuven have carried out tests on human brains in the area that is responsible for our vision. This research method is unique. The results have been published in PLOS Biology . To gain a better understanding of the human brain, researchers can rely on several methods.