The Doping Control Lab at Ghent University is an international authority in the field of doping research. The lab will be sending a delegation to the Olympics in Tokyo this year, just like it did during previous editions. But why is this necessary? Why aren’t athletes free to choose what they do with their own body? DoCoLab’s manager, prof. Peter Van Eenoo, sheds some light on these questions.
Imagine that bar service is allowed again and you can choose between two different drinks counters at a festival. One has orderly lines marked with posts, the other is entirely at random. Which option should you choose in order to get your drink fastest?
It is always important to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays, but even more so in the summer. But what kind of sun cream is it best to use?
Sweating without the annoying smell? In fact, it’s possible! Much is to do with the bacteria living under the armpit. Chris ‘Doctor Armpit’ Callewaert explains.
Wild waving and shouting as their head bobs in and out of the water. Is that how to see that someone is drowning? Well, it is in the movies. Sadly, it’s much harder to spot someone drowning in real life. Why’s that? And what can we do about it?
No, it’s not futuristic fiction: a contact lens with technology that imitates the effect of the human iris. It’s a hi-tech accomplishment that Ghent University and imec will now market: the spin-off Azalea Vision will continue developing and commercialising the contact lens.
Not got a student job this summer? Then you’d better find one, because it’s not only good for your budget, it also improves your opportunities on the job market.
These days it is mainly a tourist attraction, but Bruges was once an international world city, like London or Shanghai. The reason? Its many outer ports in the Zwin channel. New archaeological, historical and geological research has now made it possible to reconstruct that past in an unprecedented manner.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Ghent University has come first in the Shanghai ranking. This ranks faculties based on their scientific research. However, what does it mean to be number one? And why do we deserve such a good score?
RNA, or ribonucleic acid, was long seen as a mere messenger between DNA and proteins. Today, however, we know RNA does far more than that. It is an exceptionally useful instrument and the target of new treatments in the pipeline. OncoRNALab researchers have now compiled the most comprehensive ‘RNA encyclopaedia’ in the world.
“Climate change is a global problem. But if you really want to know its impact, you have to have local data.” So say meteorologist Steven Caluwaerts and bioengineer Pieter De Frenne. They both do research on microclimates, albeit with a different starting point. “Actually, we are very complementary. We should meet more often!”
In the simplest terms, health is the sum total of the effect of genes, behaviour, and surroundings. But of course we can’t just change our genes. So, if we want to avoid getting ill, it’s more productive to consider our behaviour and our surroundings as they are the things we can influence. Ghent University, KU Leuven, the University of Antwerp and Hasselt University are pooling their expertise in the first large scale ‘exposome’ research project in Flanders.
