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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
• Fund+ portfolio company Tubulis will be acquired by Gilead for an upfront payment of USD 3.15 billion, with up to USD 1.85 billion in additional milestone payments
• Tubulis’ next-generation ADC platform includes its clinically validated linker-payload technology
• The acquisition includes Tubulis’ lead asset TUB-040, a NaPi2b-targeting ADC for ovarian cancer and other solid tumors
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
• Fund+ portfolio company Tubulis will be acquired by Gilead for an upfront payment of USD 3.15 billion, with up to USD 1.85 billion in additional milestone payments
• Tubulis’ next-generation ADC platform includes its clinically validated linker-payload technology
• The acquisition includes Tubulis’ lead asset TUB-040, a NaPi2b-targeting ADC for ovarian cancer and other solid tumors
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.