Immunity & Inflammation

Germ-free mice and gut inflammation - Meet Lars Vereecke

As newly minted VIB Expert scientist and associate professor at UGent, Lars Vereecke leads the Host-Microbiota-Interaction lab at the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation research. His lab established the first Belgian germ-free and gnotobiotic mouse facility and is part of the Ghent Gut Inflammation group. He is also a group leader at the Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG).

New study highlights intestinal macrophages as early drivers of Parkinson’s disease 

A new Nature publication by Sebastiaan De Schepper and collaborators strengthens the growing view that Parkinson’s disease is not exclusively a 'brain-first' disorder. By looking at very early events in the body, particularly in the gut, the study adds new clues about how disease processes might begin outside the brain and later progress into the nervous system. 

“We need to start speaking the same language.”

A conversation with experts Damya Laoui and Chris Marine on decoding cancer’s complexity

"Find your niche and believe in it"

A conversation with experts Bart Lambrecht and Diether Lambrechts on immune niches in cancer and inflammation

"The next step was to see if changing the intestinal bacteria composition could have a positive effect on Parkinson's disease"

On Parkinson's disease, the gut microbiome, and fecal microbiota transplants

The remarkable ambition to map 37,200 billion cells in the human body

More than 3,000 scientists are busy building an atlas of every cell in our body. This should point the way to new medical breakthroughs. Like in a lab in Ghent, where they want to grow immune cells with an artificial organ to fight cancer.

Transforming scientific discoveries into biotech innovations

How VIB’s Innovation & Business team and argenx joined forces to tackle respiratory diseases

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

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

Miniscule cleaners

Asymmetrical inflamed joints

Hope for those suffering from peripheral spondyloarthritis

Not by the book

Cancer exploits the body's biological mechanisms – but differently.

From friend to foe: Understanding inflammation       

Chronic inflammation is increasingly considered to be a central piece in many disease puzzles. In this series, we'll share three VIB stories about researchers who are unraveling inflammation's role in different health conditions.