Vrije Universiteit Brussel - VUB Research and innovation for health

VUB focuses on research that is both excellent and has a broad societal relevance. Faced with many societal challenges, VUB researchers rely upon an interdisciplinary approach in searching for solutions. This is the case for health research and innovation.

In the faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy research works cover such varied fields as anatomical research & clinical studies, biostatistics and medical informatics, cellular and molecular immunology, gene therapy and regenerative medicine, heart and vascular disease, molecular oncology, neurogenetics, etc. They are complemented with research activities in the field of sciences and bio-engineering sciences including artificial intelligence and microbiology, to name only a few.

Moreover, the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology (SBRC) develops and integrates state-of-the-art structural biology approaches to unravelling the structure and dynamics of proteins and macromolecular complexes in order to explain their mode of action in health and disease. They translate their discoveries into biotechnological and medical applications. Prof. Rouslan Efremov, head of the EfremovLab dedicated to structural biology and electron microscopy, was recently awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant. This grant will help his team better understand how large molecular machines work. To achieve this they are using transmission electron cryogenic microscopy (cryo-EM) and methods of single particle analysis to determine the structures of the molecular machines and to resolve their functionally important conformational states.

Other ERC Consolidator Grants were awarded to Prof. Han Remaut (SBRC), for a research work entitled “Bacterial Amyloid Secretion: Structural Biology and Biotechnology (BAS-SBBT)”, and Prof. Dr. Ir. Peter Schelkens, whose research is devoted to “Sparse Signal Coding for Interference-based Imaging Modalities (INTERFERE)”. Likewise an ERC Starting Grant was awarded to Dr. Luc Baeyens for his project “Neogenesis of new functional Beta Cells through Modulation of Neurogenin-3 Expression to provide Regenerative Therapy for Diabetes Patients (Neobetacell)”.

VUB has also set up Strategic Research Programmes (SRPs) and health concerns have not been forgotten as shown by the SRP4

“End-of-Life Care in Cancer and Non-Cancer Patients: Public Health, Health Services and Clinical Research. Addressing Present and Future Challenges in Palliative Care”, SRP 13 “Structure and Dynamics of Macromolecular Complexes in Health and Disease”, SRP17 “Exercise and the Brain in Health and Disease: The Added Value of Human-Centered Robotics”, SRP46 “Smart Structural Health and Usage Monitoring Strategies for Key Technologies”, SRP47 “Molecular Imaging and TARgeting of Macrophages in Inflammation (ITARMI)”, SRP48 “Cancer Cell Targeting in Myeloma and Melanoma (MyMe)”, and SRP49 “Understanding Reciprocal Neuron-Glia Interactions in Health and Disease as a Basis for Innovative Neurological and Neuropsychopharmacological Therapies”.

Among recent breakthroughs a team of Belgian researchers, led by the ULB-VUB’s ‘Interuniversity Institute of Bioinformatics’ (or IB²) in Brussels, has developed an AI method to identify potential genetic causes of rare diseases, based on computer analysis. This research, published in the Proceedings journal of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS) and Nucleid Acids Research (NAR), can lead to new avenues for the diagnosis of the genetic causes of rare diseases. What is more a new study led by Dr. Antonella Fioravanti in the lab of Prof. Han Remaut has shown that removing the armor of the bacterium that causes anthrax slows its growth and negatively affects its ability to cause disease. This work, published in the prestigious journal Nature Microbiology, can lead the way to new, effective ways of fighting anthrax and various other diseases.

© VUB Brussels scientists developed an AI method to improve rare disease diagnosis

Just like research innovation is definitely a cooperative process at VUB. It encompasses the funding of strategic & applied research (via VUB TechTransfer - Industrial Research Fund, IOF knowledge centers -, VLAIO and Innoviris), H2020 Support (thanks to the VUB Foundation among others), intellectual property management & licensing, entrepreneurship & education, research parks & incubators in Flanders and Brussels, legal advice & contract administration management, marketing, communication & events, business cooperation, and of course spin-off management: VUB has about 30 active spin-offs based on research in various fields including life sciences. In this context, VUB TechTransfer also collaborates with the strategic research centers such as VIB, IMEC, iMinds and VITO. So many win-win partnerships!