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Flindr Therapeutics: Targeting a Master Switch in Cancer Cell Survival

Flindr Therapeutics is part of a new wave of precision oncology, targeting a key control point in how cancer cells stay alive. The company is working with academic partners like the NKI and VIB, turning deep biological insights into first-in-class medicines.

Alga-Care Project Explores Microalgae as a One Health Solution for Fatty Liver Disease

What if the next step in preventing fatty liver disease could come from the sea? The Alga-Care project is investigating whether bioactive compounds from microalgae could help protect the liver from fat accumulation, oxidation, and damage. This VLAIO-funded intercluster project is supported by both Biovia and De Blauwe Cluster, uniting biomedical expertise and marine biology for a potential One Health solution.

From Self-Healing Robots to Surgical Phantoms: How Materials Science is Reshaping Medical Training

When Seppe Terryn first appeared in a Biovia article member spotlight in 2024, he was an academic working on self-healing robots. Today, those same materials are being stitched — quite literally — into the future of surgical training, with the new VLAIO-funded project RESSURG.

Why Only Some Mice Get Fat Without Eating More — And What it Might Mean for People

What if obesity was not only about how much you eat? A new study in mice suggests that a small motor protein hidden inside the cell nucleus may help decide whether fat tissue ages healthily or quietly turns sick. Lose this protein, and the body's fat get bigger even when the diet never changes — a twist that may carry lessons far beyond the lab.

Saving Europe’s Soils: One Dataset At A Time

Over 60% of European soils are considered unhealthy, threatening our food, water, and climate. Yet the knowledge needed to restore them exists — it is just inaccessible and underused, scattered across hundreds of databases and institutions. The SoilWise project is changing that by building a one-stop-shop for soil data that anyone can access and build upon. Because to save our soils, we first need to find our data.

What Can Your DNA Reveal Before Health Problems Appear?

Imagine if your body could send out warning signals before you even feel ill. No pain, fever, or obvious symptoms, yet at a biological level, something may already be changing. New research suggests that exposure to harmful substances can sometimes be detected much earlier than previously thought — not through visible symptoms, but through subtle changes in how our genes are regulated. By learning how to read these early signals, scientists hope to improve prevention, protect people in high-risk workplaces, and act before health problems develop.

From Sample Collections to Critical Infrastructure: Experts are Calling for Changes to Belgium’s Biobanks

Belgium has strong biobanks, but many still experience the system as fragmented and hard to navigate when conducting biomedical research. Experts in Belgium are arguing that we need to treat biobanks as shared infrastructure — data-rich platforms with predictable access, sustainable funding, and governance built around patient trust.

Why Big Pharma Needs Biotech More Than Ever

Big pharma may be powerful, profitable, and global, but it cannot rely on scale alone to secure the future of medicine. As patents expire and blockbuster revenues decline, pharmaceutical companies increasingly depend on biotech startups to generate new ideas, products, and platforms. Yet many early-stage biotechs are struggling to raise the capital they need to survive. If that trend persists, the consequences will reach far beyond startups — weakening pharma pipelines and delaying future health solutions for patients.

From Local Strength to Global Scale: Why Belgium’s Health Innovators Need a United Front

Belgium has the science to compete globally, but its market is too small and fragmented to support companies alone. To help startups scale, the ecosystem needs to act less like a set of competing regions and more like a unified, internationally visible launchpad for health innovation.

Liquid Nitrogen: Cooling in Real-World Conditions

Cooling is often treated as a stable constant in pharmaceutical processes — until its fails. Deviations rarely happen unexpectedly; they develop gradually and often go unnoticed for too long. By the time they are detected, product quality may already be compromised. So how can companies ensure that their cooling systems remain stable in real-world conditions?

Antwerp Researcher Rosa Rademakers Wins ‘Oscar of Science’ for Dementia and ALS Discovery

Antwerp researcher Rosa Rademakers has won the Breakthrough Prize in the US — one of the world’s most prestigious science awards. Rademakers received the prize and more than 2.5 million euros for her groundbreaking discovery that a rare genetic mutation plays a key role in both frontotemporal dementia and ALS.

Europe’s Life Sciences Paradox: Strong Science, Weak Scale?

Europe has long positioned itself as a global leader in life sciences. With world-class research institutions and a steady pipeline of scientific breakthroughs, that claim is well founded. But at the heart of the ecosystem, there is a growing disconnect. Is Europe equipped to build and retain globally competitive companies, or is it just a generator of innovation for others to scale?

Breaking the Cycle of Pain: Biodol’s Solution for the Opioid Crisis

Biodol Therapeutics is aiming to ease the burden of chronic pain for millions of patients around the globe. The company is developing a unique new drug with a dual function: a non-opioid standalone treatment for neuropathic pain or migraine, but also a combination therapy with opioids. By reversing opioid tolerance, Biodol’s compound eliminates the need for higher doses, making these powerful drugs safer and more effective at alleviating suffering.

Bacteria as Plant Fertilizers: How Soil Microbes Can Help Plants Grow During Drought

Farmers rely heavily on chemical fertilizers to boost crop yields, but this approach comes at a cost to soil quality, biodiversity, and plant fertility. Soil microbes may provide greener alternatives to help plants grow better under tough conditions like drought by triggering faster growth and earlier flowering. The intended result? Improved crop yields when water is scarce.

From Copycat to Top Dog: China is Becoming a Biopharma Powerhouse

With the rapid rise of Chinese biopharma, this ‘new kid on the block’ has gone from baby to behemoth on the world stage. This powerhouse of innovation and industry is now turning heads in both the US and Europe, having transformed from copycat to top dog in the space of just a few years. How has China done it, and what can Europe do in response?