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VIB Blog

On our blog, you can find content curated by the VIB community. Discover our research through the eyes of our scientists.Want to be kept...

Get to know the researchers driving cutting-edge research at VIB and delve into the latest advancements in life sciences.

VIB Blog: Insights and innovations in life sciences research

Op onze blog vindt u inhoud samengesteld door de VIB-gemeenschap. Ontdek ons onderzoek door de ogen van onze wetenschappers.

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VIB and J&J team up to harness bacterial enzymes for peptide synthesis

"Bacteria are brilliant chemists" 

Peptides make powerful drugs, but they are difficult to synthesize. The pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson teams up with VIB experts to explore how to harness the biosynthetic creativity of microbes to make peptide mass manufacturing more cost-effective and sustainable.

The field of synthetic biology has seen remarkable developments in the last decade or two

(Re)building life: The past, present, and future of synthetic biology 

If we understand living systems as wholes constructed from parts, can we design new parts or redesign existing ones to build living systems and components according to desired specifications?

BE.Amycon is an initiative uniting scientists, doctors, and patients in Belgium to combat amyloidosis. Learn about the project’s goals, key players, and the importance of collaboration for advancing diagnosis and treatment on World Amyloidosis Day.

BE.Amycon: A United Front Against Amyloidosis in Belgium

For World Amyloidosis Day on 26 October, we introduce BE.Amycon, a new VIB Grand Challenges initiative uniting scientists, doctors, and patients...

BE.Amycon: A united front against Amyloidosis in Belgium

For World Amyloidosis Day on 26 October, we introduce BE.Amycon, a new VIB Grand Challenges initiative uniting scientists, doctors, and patients across Belgium to address the challenges posed by amyloidosis. We interview Rodrigo Gallardo, BE.Amycon Project Lead, and other core members of the network to find out more.

Discover how research at VIB is aiding the plant-based industry by modifying plant cell walls to enhance biomass processing.

Engineering cell walls for a sustainable plant-based future

-written by Lennart Hoengenaert, a postdoctoral researcher at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology

Discover how dendritic cell vaccines can potentially improve long-term survival in late-stage ovarian cancer patients.

Dendritic Cell Atlas: A Game-Changer in Anti-Cancer Therapy

-written by Aarushi Audhut Caro, a PhD student at the VIB Center for Inflammation Research

Dendritic cell atlas: roadmap to a better anti-cancer therapy

One out of two patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer dies within five years after diagnosis. Ovarian cancer is often called a silent killer because the symptoms associated with it are very vague and common, including bloating, loss of appetite, belly pain, and frequent urination. As a result, 80% of the patients initially either disregard these symptoms or are misdiagnosed. By the time the correct diagnosis of ovarian cancer is made, the patients are often in the late stages in which the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body. In many cases, this is too late! Interestingly, the majority of late-stage patients occasionally respond positively to the therapies they are provided with, and it appears that the cancer is gone. But eventually, the cancer comes back. Only this time, it’s much more aggressive and does not respond to therapies any longer. Ultimately, it is the late diagnosis and therapy resistance that eventually leads to low five-year survival in ovarian cancer patients. So, it is obvious that we need new therapies that are not only effective but have long-term effects so that late-stage ovarian cancer patients can live more than five years.

From Alzheimer's disease to cancer biology and plant systems, gain insights into the applications and transformative impact of spatial omics at VIB.

Unraveling the power of spatial omics in biotech research

Next to machine learning, spatial omics is becoming one of the hottest topic in biotech!

Deciphering the hidden language of life

This article originally appeared in Dutch in EOS Magazine. Read more at eoswetenschap.eu.

Miniscule cleaners

Beneath the Waves: The Remarkable Evolution of Seagrasses 

A story for International Darwin Day 

In 1859, ‘On the Origins of Species’ by Charles Darwin was published. This world famous book is perceived as the foundation of evolutionary biology. The concept of evolutionary adaptation through natural selection did not only spark scientific debate in the 19th century, it still inspires researchers to this day. Yves Van de Peer, director of the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology and group leader of the lab for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Genomics, does research on the evolution of plants. In his latest publication, he and a team of scientists studied the evolution of seagrasses to understand how these plants adapted to an extremely challenging environment. To celebrate Darwin Day, we want to dive deep into this research and explain why evolutionary research remains important to this day.

Deep Dive