VIB Excellence-driven basic research in life sciences with a strong societal impact As a life sciences research institute based in Flanders, VIB performs basic research with a strong focus on translating scientific results into pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial applications. VIB is funded by the Flemish government.
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ith more than 1,700 scientists from over 76 countries, VIB performs basic research into the molecular foundations of life. Research is carried out by 8 VIB research centers embedded in KU Leuven, UGent, the University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Hasselt University. Research areas cover bioinformatics, cancer, inflammation and immunity, microbiology, neuroscience, plant biology, proteomics, structural biology, and systems biology.
© Tim Coppens
In response to the global COVID-19 crisis, several VIB research groups have leveraged their expertise to address this immediate challenge. The team of Bart Lambrecht (VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research) and colleagues investigated the use of rheumatism medication for mitigating excessive inflammatory reactions in severely affected COVID-19 patients. They are also studying the complement system – a complicated cascade of proteins that gets activated in response to infection and tissue damage – as potential therapeutic target. Another approach is being pursued by the teams of Xavier Saelens and Nico Callewaert (VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology). They are developing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 that could provide immediate protection. The initial step towards this goal was published in Cell in May 2020. With the help of VIB’s Discovery Sciences team, the development of these antibodies has become the basis for a new start-up company, ExeVir Bio, which was officially launched in July 2020 – an incredibly rapid timeline to set up a new company. Another recent spin-off, Animab, launched in October 2020, builds on work by the labs of Nico Callewaert (VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology), Ann Depicker (VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology), Henri De Greve (VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology) and Eric Cox (UGent Faculty of Veterinary Medicine). Their new antibody technology combines the advantages of antibody-based therapies with the convenience of oral drug administration. Importantly, these antibodies are manufactured using yeast or soybean in a process as straightforward as food manufacturing. This work, led by Vikram Virdi, was published in Nature Biotechnology. This technology has potential uses in various areas, from fighting veterinary and human gut infections, treating inflammatory and metabolic disorders, to the development of microbiome altering food supplements. Animab will pursue this finding for the development of oral antibodies to prevent infections and improve the health of livestock animals.
bodies, an alternative energy source, stimulates the growth of lymph vessels and has substantial beneficial effects in conditions affecting the lymphatic system. The team has developed a dietary metabolic approach which will soon be tested in a clinical Phase II trial to treat lymphedema, a condition for which currently no cure exists. The first patients are already enrolled in the study, which is led by dr. Sarah Thomis, vascular surgeon and head of the center for lymphedema in UZ Leuven in collaboration with the Clinical Nutrition Unit, UZ Leuven. The Carmeliet team has also developed the hypothesis that endothelial cells are essential contributors to the initiation and propagation of severe COVID-19 in a paper in Nature Reviews Immunology, where they also propose novel therapeutic strategies. And let us not forget the Flemish Gut Flora Project, which was launched in 2012 by Jeroen Raes (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology). Sequencing fecal samples of over 3,000 healthy volunteers, Jeroen Raes' team defined the boundaries of a normal, health-associated gut microbiota. Next, the team turned to
For its part, the group of Peter Carmeliet (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology) discovered that the administration of ketone 50
