VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)

Neuroscience

Understanding how visual information guides behavior

To understand more about how we respond to what we see around us, a team of scientists at NERF has zoomed in on the organization of neurons in the superior colliculus, a midbrain structure that mediates orientation responses ...

Neuroscience

Do microglia hold the key to stop Alzheimer's disease?

A Leuven research team led by Prof. Bart De Strooper (VIB-KU Leuven, UK DRI) studied how specialized brain cells called microglia respond to the accumulation of toxic proteins in the brain, a feature typical of Alzheimer's. ...

Inflammatory disorders

Research opens up new treatment route for inflammatory rheumatism

Enthesitis, inflammation of tendons where they attach to the bone, is a common medical problem which underlies various forms of inflammatory rheumatism. Although around 1% of the population is affected, the mechanisms driving ...

Oncology & Cancer

Breast cancer cells rely on pyruvate to expand in new tissues

Most patients who die of breast cancer die of metastasis, the process by which cancer cells spread to other organs of the body. Cancer cells alter their metabolism to grow and expand across other organs. A new study by Prof. ...

Oncology & Cancer

Salty diet reduces tumor growth by tackling immune cells

A study by an international research team led by Professor Markus Kleinewietfeld (VIB-UHasselt) shows that high salt intake inhibits tumor growth in mice. The effect seems to be due to a change in function of certain immune ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Novelty speeds up learning thanks to dopamine activation

Brain scientists led by Sebastian Haesler (NERF, empowered by IMEC, KU Leuven and VIB) have identified a causal mechanism of how novel stimuli promote learning. Novelty directly activates the dopamine system, which is responsible ...

Neuroscience

What happens around an Alzheimer plaque?

The brains of people living with Alzheimer's are riddled with plaques: protein aggregates consisting mainly of amyloid beta. Despite decades of research, the real contribution of these plaques to the disease process is still ...

Neuroscience

To become, or not to become a neuron

Researchers led by Pierre Vanderhaeghen and Jérôme Bonnefont (VIB-KU Leuven and ULB) have unraveled a mechanism controlling the switch between growth and differentiation of neural stem cells during brain development. They ...

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