Newsletter

VUB researchers call for greater focus on early detection and prevention Every year, around 1,500 people in Belgium are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The disease is increasingly affecting younger patients and is usually discovered only in an advanced stage. As part of World Pancreatic Cancer Month, researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and doctors from UZ Brussel are urgently calling for greater attention to early detection and prevention. “Pancreatic canc

The global rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is one of the greatest health challenges of our time. At the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), biologist Jessie Vandierendonck has been working on an innovative solution: using bacteriophages — viruses that specifically infect and destroy bacteria. Bacteriophages, or simply phages, have been known for over a century but are now regaining attention as a promising alternative to

Renowned psychiatrist Dirk De Wachter has been living with metastatic cancer for four years, but he continues to speak about hope, connection, and humanity. In a candid interview, he reflects on digital polarization, loneliness, technology, self-determination, and the finiteness of life. Polarization and digital communication According to De Wachter, social media reinforces rigidity and black-and-white thinking. They create bubbles where nuance disappears. Yet he also sees op