In December 2023, Azalea Vision announced the first test of their smart contact lens on a real person. This demonstration showcased the first functional prototype of their smart lens, known as the ALMA lens, which was developed by the company to address ocular disorders characterized by the inability to effectively filter light.
Similar to the growing use of large-scale scientific data to guide laboratory research, urban data presents significant potential for informed decision-making in city governance. Extensive data on waste collection, traffic, pollution, and various other facets of city management can be collected and analyzed to help policymakers identify challenges and develop prediction-based solutions. Thomas Van Oppens, Deputy Mayor of Leuven, underscores the importance of local collaboration in establishing such a data-driven growth model for city governance.
Even though endometriosis impacts millions of women globally, the condition remains poorly understood and researched, leading to delayed diagnosis and lack of effective treatment. Encouragingly, there are promising recent developments in the field coming from Belgium. Professor Hugo Vankelecom’s research group at KU Leuven uses advanced cellular models, known as organoids, to delve into the disease and expedite the drug discovery process. The Danish BioInnovation Institute now offers the team an incubation program to pave the way towards industrial success.
After a therapeutic drug hits the market, it is crucial to continuously gather, analyze, and report data regarding its safety and potential side effects, a practice known as pharmacovigilance. Unlike clinical trials, this involves real-world data (RWD), presenting unique challenges in terms of both quality and quantity. The Belgian BELpREG project seeks to employ RWD for monitoring drug utilization during pregnancy and investigating potential safety implications for both maternal and child health. This initiative holds great promise, although it faces substantial hurdles on its path to success.
Muna Therapeutics is developing transformative therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. These drugs aim to preserve cognition and enhance the brain’s resilience in diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, providing much-needed hope for millions of patients and their loved ones.
The AIPLANT project aims to reduce complications from dental implant surgery using AI-based preoperative planning. The project is a collaboration between the Centre for Dentomaxillofacial Imaging at UZ Leuven, AI startup Relu, and Xentro Dental.
Patient data is a treasure trove of information, vital to tailoring individual care pathways and generating profound insights to enhance healthcare more broadly. However, achieving interoperability among the diverse systems employed by various healthcare providers remains a critical challenge. Data standards like FHIR can help to streamline the secure exchange and seamless integration of healthcare data across these different systems. This article will take you through the FHIR framework and how it could be used by your organization.
Studies of a drug's effectiveness and safety don’t end with clinical trials – they extend beyond market access when the true value of a drug is demonstrated in a real-world setting. Based on this information, factors such as availability, pricing, and reimbursement are adjusted. To study the actual worth of a treatment, we require real-world data (RWD) from a large and diverse patient population. By actively sharing this information with stakeholders, we can fuel further research and innovation, and even help to inform decision-making on a population level. But in order to unlock the full potential of our patient data, all members of the ecosystem have to work together.
AstroCardia has developed a heart-on-a-chip to study cardiovascular aging… in space! Trials will begin in 2025 aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The MEDVIA project was made possible thanks to the combined expertise of the five Belgian partners: Space Applications Services, the Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK CEN), QbD Group, BIO INX, and Antleron.
Biodevice-CRO is a MEDVIA project uniting three very different, but complementary, Flemish companies: ICsense, Comate, and Antleron. This unique partnership aims to provide life science actors with customizable, modular bioprocess solutions through a collaborative Contract Research Organization (CRO) model. These smart solutions – the biodevice based on an integrated chip, biofluidic cartridge, and functional device – will enable fast-track development of personalized medicines and improved diagnostics.
In December 2023, Azalea Vision announced the first test of their smart contact lens on a real person. This demonstration showcased the first functional prototype of their smart lens, known as the ALMA lens, which was developed by the company to address ocular disorders characterized by the inability to effectively filter light.
Similar to the growing use of large-scale scientific data to guide laboratory research, urban data presents significant potential for informed decision-making in city governance. Extensive data on waste collection, traffic, pollution, and various other facets of city management can be collected and analyzed to help policymakers identify challenges and develop prediction-based solutions. Thomas Van Oppens, Deputy Mayor of Leuven, underscores the importance of local collaboration in establishing such a data-driven growth model for city governance.
Even though endometriosis impacts millions of women globally, the condition remains poorly understood and researched, leading to delayed diagnosis and lack of effective treatment. Encouragingly, there are promising recent developments in the field coming from Belgium. Professor Hugo Vankelecom’s research group at KU Leuven uses advanced cellular models, known as organoids, to delve into the disease and expedite the drug discovery process. The Danish BioInnovation Institute now offers the team an incubation program to pave the way towards industrial success.
After a therapeutic drug hits the market, it is crucial to continuously gather, analyze, and report data regarding its safety and potential side effects, a practice known as pharmacovigilance. Unlike clinical trials, this involves real-world data (RWD), presenting unique challenges in terms of both quality and quantity. The Belgian BELpREG project seeks to employ RWD for monitoring drug utilization during pregnancy and investigating potential safety implications for both maternal and child health. This initiative holds great promise, although it faces substantial hurdles on its path to success.
Muna Therapeutics is developing transformative therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. These drugs aim to preserve cognition and enhance the brain’s resilience in diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, providing much-needed hope for millions of patients and their loved ones.
The AIPLANT project aims to reduce complications from dental implant surgery using AI-based preoperative planning. The project is a collaboration between the Centre for Dentomaxillofacial Imaging at UZ Leuven, AI startup Relu, and Xentro Dental.
Patient data is a treasure trove of information, vital to tailoring individual care pathways and generating profound insights to enhance healthcare more broadly. However, achieving interoperability among the diverse systems employed by various healthcare providers remains a critical challenge. Data standards like FHIR can help to streamline the secure exchange and seamless integration of healthcare data across these different systems. This article will take you through the FHIR framework and how it could be used by your organization.
Studies of a drug's effectiveness and safety don’t end with clinical trials – they extend beyond market access when the true value of a drug is demonstrated in a real-world setting. Based on this information, factors such as availability, pricing, and reimbursement are adjusted. To study the actual worth of a treatment, we require real-world data (RWD) from a large and diverse patient population. By actively sharing this information with stakeholders, we can fuel further research and innovation, and even help to inform decision-making on a population level. But in order to unlock the full potential of our patient data, all members of the ecosystem have to work together.
AstroCardia has developed a heart-on-a-chip to study cardiovascular aging… in space! Trials will begin in 2025 aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The MEDVIA project was made possible thanks to the combined expertise of the five Belgian partners: Space Applications Services, the Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK CEN), QbD Group, BIO INX, and Antleron.
Biodevice-CRO is a MEDVIA project uniting three very different, but complementary, Flemish companies: ICsense, Comate, and Antleron. This unique partnership aims to provide life science actors with customizable, modular bioprocess solutions through a collaborative Contract Research Organization (CRO) model. These smart solutions – the biodevice based on an integrated chip, biofluidic cartridge, and functional device – will enable fast-track development of personalized medicines and improved diagnostics.