ULB Research ⤶	Description of the Unit	Projects of the Unit	Composition
Collaborations of the Unit	Protected technologies	Publications	Skills

Healthcare

Research aimed at protecting human health is well developed at the ULB. Involving doctors, psychologists, biomechanics, physiotherapists, osteopath, biologists, pharmacists, chemists, engineers, physicists, mathematicians, it revolves around the ULB hospital network in Brussels (the university hospitals Erasmus, Bordet, Brugmann and Huderf, as well as the Iris network) and in Hainaut (Charleroi, La Louviere, Mons). Synergies with the hospital network enable the implementation of approaches featuring translational and personalised medicine: from the laboratory to a patient's bed and vice-versa. The most advanced research is thus made available to patients. In return the clinical characteristics of patients and the data stored in biobanks or gained from genome sequencing are analysed, using bioinformatics, in an effort to advance research. In the medical field, a substantial amount of research effort is being invested in cancer, the immune system and its deficiencies, neurological diseases, infectious diseases (especially AIDS and sleeping sickness), diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, infertility, as well as in the relationship between micro-particles and cardiovascular diseases or problems related to motor skills and rehabilitation, with a focus on the elderly and infants. Several ULB teams are similarly working on subjects of social relevance such as the psychological factors associated with prevention, screening, the treatment and palliation of medical conditions (particularly cancer), the care of patients with chronic diseases and addictions, various forms of psychosis, or the experience of conception and birth. The research labs of the Faculty of Pharmacy use the most advanced biochemical and bioanalytical techniques and platforms for identifying new active ingredients and therapeutical targets, and developing more efficient and more reliable new medicines. There is also extensive collaboration between medical teams and engineers and physicists to develop new tools for medical use, ranging from imaging to the development of less invasive surgical instruments. Last but not least, the economic, social and ethical dimensions of health are intensively studied: specific behavioural features associated with health (looked at also from the perspective of social inequality), HR requirements in healthcare institutions, vaccination programmes, cancer monitoring, etc. Special attention is accorded to less-developed countries, with which a large number of collaboration projects and training programmes exist.

Oncology

Though cancer can be increasingly well detected and increasingly well treated, it remains one of the main causes of death and a major problem for society. To treat it effectively, an in-depth understanding of the disease is required - and there is still a lot of work to do here. We now know that there are multiple mechanisms at work in the development of cancer, often characterised by great variability. These complex and mutually interacting mechanisms have genetic, epigenetic, immunological, psychological and environmental origins. The development of increasingly effective therapies therefore requires a variety of complementary approaches. These are fuelled by state-of-the-art fundamental research into molecular mechanisms, including the use of stem cells, as well as by wide-scale clinical and genetic studies involving the extensive bioinformatic processing of personal data. All these different elements are bundled together within the ULB's ''canceropôle'', with the very high-level fundamental research conducted in the laboratories of the Faculties of Medicine and Science going hand-in-hand with international level clinical research conducted in the Erasmus teaching hospital and the Jules Bordet Institute, benefiting from a tradition of oncological excellence. All this work relies on the resources and expertise of the Interuniversity Institute of Bioinformatics in Brussels (ULB-VUB). The ULB's ''canceropôle'' offers patients not just top-quality hospital care but also, on account of its acknowledged research excellence, access to the most advanced medicines offering the best chances of recovery.