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Personal/public health

Agrofood, Biomedical/pharma, Food technology, Microbial systems and fermentation, Personal/public health, Plant science

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

Health Innovation Funding: Spearhead Clusters Lead the Way in Flanders

BioVox spoke with Sara Van Overmeire and Annie Renders of Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) about the origin and role of spearhead clusters. VLAIO is the Flemish government’s point of contact for all entrepreneurs in Flanders. It relies on Biovia and other spearhead clusters to bring companies together and support them in setting up innovative projects.

MeSH Counter: A Tool to Track Biomedical Research Trends

Venture investing in early-stage companies hinges on spotting transformative technologies before they become hyped. To support this, we built the MeSH Counter: an R-based tool that tracks monthly frequencies of specific terms in PubMed, allowing us to visualize trends in the life sciences. Publication trends are not the same as investment signals, yet the MeSH Counter can help efficiently map the research landscape, so investors can prioritize deeper, human-led diligence.

Bioprinting Living Tissues with BIO INX

Belgian startup BIO INX develops bioinks to 3D print cells into living tissues and organ-on-chip technologies. The company is working with academic and industry partners to develop products ranging from artificial corneas to cartilage. The aim: translate academic ideas into to real-world applications with tangible patient impact.

Co-Creation in Agrifood and Bio-Based Innovation: Accelerating Trust and Impact

As a sector, agrifood biotech has enormous potential to improve the sustainability, resilience, and productivity of our food systems. Yet many promising innovations still fail to reach the market, often because they are not sufficiently aligned with real-world needs or adoption barriers. The B-Trust project aims to involve end-users from the start, to help make agrifood R&D more relevant, equitable, and impactful.

HERAN Partners Raises €90 Million Fund for European Healthtech

Belgian venture capital firm HERAN Partners has announced a €90 million close for its second healthtech-focused fund, HERAN HealthTech Fund II, and says it aims to scale to €110–120 million. The firm invests in early-stage medtech and healthtech companies across Europe, backing technologies designed to make healthcare and life sciences R&D more efficient, data-driven, and scalable.

Hospitals and Belgian Companies Unite to Shape the Future of Healthcare

On 29 January 2026, 400 Belgian healthcare stakeholders — hospital executives, policymakers, and innovators — gathered in Brussels to help shape the future of healthcare. The objective was to connect hospital needs with the innovative technologies developed by Belgian companies. Two projects were honored during the event’s Innovation Awards: Baby Detect and SIM BLOOD.

Dengue: A Virus Without Borders

We are all familiar with global viruses: The flu shows up every year across the world, and not long ago we collectively experienced the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Now, a neglected tropical disease is joining this club of viruses without borders. Dengue — also known as break-bone fever — is currently one of the world’s fastest spreading viral diseases, with more than half of the global population already at risk.