Belgium has once again strengthened its position as Europe's biotech leader. Today, Belgian biotech companies comprise 23 percent of the total market value of all public European biotech companies. Compared to the end of April 2018, the value of Belgian biotech companies increased by 12.5 percent from 24 to 27 billion euros. A few Belgian biotech giants such as Galapagos, argenx and UCB, are responsible for this growth. This according to figures announced by KBC Securities during the "State of the Union" event of the Flemish biotech sector federation flanders.bio and VIB on the eve of the large "knowledge for growth" congress in Ghent.
When it comes to food, our key sources of nutrition haven’t changed much in the last ten thousand years. Though hyped-up food trends and diets come and go, our ancestors established the status quo for our primary protein sources a long time ago: animal products, like dairy, eggs and meat, have been the staples ever since we switched from hunters to farmers. However, with rising global populations driving sky-high demand for animal products, is it time for another food revolution?
Have you ever considered how scientists are able to count transparent cells in a see-through solution? Traditional methods involve dyes, microscopes, time and effort. Now there’s a new technology on the market: Ovizio Imaging Systems has developed a technical solution to this longstanding problem. Using an imaging technique called digital holographic microscopy, Ovizio’s devices perform cell counts by reconstructing 3D images using light. This new type of imaging provides quantitative information about cells, including their number, morphology and viability, all without a drop of dye!
Due to climate change, two species of tropical mosquitoes are spreading into Europe at increasing rates. Their presence is linked to a range of tropical viruses, including dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika. With an increase in disease-ridden insects, we’re likely to start seeing these infections at higher rates in European countries, in Belgium and beyond.
Bioscience engineers at KU Leuven have created a record-breaking hydrogen gas panel. The panel is capable of producing 250 liters of hydrogen gas per day; enough that just 20 panels could provide a family’s electricity and heating needs for a whole European winter. The Belgian device is an innovative step forward for clean energy and sustainability around the globe.
Companies with a good gender balance consistently outperform those with only men in their management teams. Yet despite this, start-ups with female founders and management team members are consistently underfunded compared to all male companies. Could it be that the gender gap in funding has its roots in the gender disparity in the financing firms themselves?
The discovery of antibiotics fundamentally changed healthcare in the 20th century. Deadly infections suddenly became treatable and millions of lives were saved. But excessive antibiotic use in both healthcare and agriculture has allowed some microbes to become resistant. Resistance has even been reported to last resort treatments, like colistin, in the past few years. With classic antibiotics failing, will trivial infections become deadly again or will we manage to find new solutions? In this two-part series, we will look into some of the fundamentally different therapeutics that are being developed as alternatives to traditional antibiotics. In this second installment, we highlight bacteriophages: are they finally ready to take center stage, nearly 100 years after being discovered?
The Spanish start-up Minoryx Therapeutics recently opened a subsidiary in Belgium to further their research on treatments for rare and orphan diseases. Co-founder and CEO Marc Martinell spoke to BioVox about his personal reasons for founding the company and why Belgium is such an attractive location to start-ups in the medical sector.
Belgium has once again strengthened its position as Europe's biotech leader. Today, Belgian biotech companies comprise 23 percent of the total market value of all public European biotech companies. Compared to the end of April 2018, the value of Belgian biotech companies increased by 12.5 percent from 24 to 27 billion euros. A few Belgian biotech giants such as Galapagos, argenx and UCB, are responsible for this growth. This according to figures announced by KBC Securities during the "State of the Union" event of the Flemish biotech sector federation flanders.bio and VIB on the eve of the large "knowledge for growth" congress in Ghent.
When it comes to food, our key sources of nutrition haven’t changed much in the last ten thousand years. Though hyped-up food trends and diets come and go, our ancestors established the status quo for our primary protein sources a long time ago: animal products, like dairy, eggs and meat, have been the staples ever since we switched from hunters to farmers. However, with rising global populations driving sky-high demand for animal products, is it time for another food revolution?
Have you ever considered how scientists are able to count transparent cells in a see-through solution? Traditional methods involve dyes, microscopes, time and effort. Now there’s a new technology on the market: Ovizio Imaging Systems has developed a technical solution to this longstanding problem. Using an imaging technique called digital holographic microscopy, Ovizio’s devices perform cell counts by reconstructing 3D images using light. This new type of imaging provides quantitative information about cells, including their number, morphology and viability, all without a drop of dye!
Due to climate change, two species of tropical mosquitoes are spreading into Europe at increasing rates. Their presence is linked to a range of tropical viruses, including dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika. With an increase in disease-ridden insects, we’re likely to start seeing these infections at higher rates in European countries, in Belgium and beyond.
Bioscience engineers at KU Leuven have created a record-breaking hydrogen gas panel. The panel is capable of producing 250 liters of hydrogen gas per day; enough that just 20 panels could provide a family’s electricity and heating needs for a whole European winter. The Belgian device is an innovative step forward for clean energy and sustainability around the globe.
Companies with a good gender balance consistently outperform those with only men in their management teams. Yet despite this, start-ups with female founders and management team members are consistently underfunded compared to all male companies. Could it be that the gender gap in funding has its roots in the gender disparity in the financing firms themselves?
The discovery of antibiotics fundamentally changed healthcare in the 20th century. Deadly infections suddenly became treatable and millions of lives were saved. But excessive antibiotic use in both healthcare and agriculture has allowed some microbes to become resistant. Resistance has even been reported to last resort treatments, like colistin, in the past few years. With classic antibiotics failing, will trivial infections become deadly again or will we manage to find new solutions? In this two-part series, we will look into some of the fundamentally different therapeutics that are being developed as alternatives to traditional antibiotics. In this second installment, we highlight bacteriophages: are they finally ready to take center stage, nearly 100 years after being discovered?
The Spanish start-up Minoryx Therapeutics recently opened a subsidiary in Belgium to further their research on treatments for rare and orphan diseases. Co-founder and CEO Marc Martinell spoke to BioVox about his personal reasons for founding the company and why Belgium is such an attractive location to start-ups in the medical sector.