An international team of researchers led by Patrik Verstreken at VIB-KU Leuven has succeeded in reversing the effects of Tau, a protein implicated in over 20 different diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. 

Congrats to Lynette Lim, Stein Aerts, Sandrine Da Cruz, Matthew Holt and Pierre Vanderhaeghen on obtaining project funding from FWO!

Researchers led by prof. Wout Boerjan (VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology) have discovered a way to stably finetune the amount of lignin in poplar by applying CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Lignin is one of the main structural substances in plants and it makes processing wood into, for example, paper difficult. This study is an important breakthrough in the development of wood resources for the production of paper with a lower carbon footprint, biofuels, and other bio-based materials. 

The plants we eat often look very different from their wild ancestors. In an interdisciplinary collaboration, Ive De Smet (VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology) and David Vergauwen (Amarant) explore how we can use historical paintings to trace the genetic changes in our plant foods. 

The European Sustainable Agriculture through Genome Editing (EU-SAGE) network, with members from 132 European research institutes and associations, urges the European Council, European Parliament and the European Commission to reconsider their stance on genome editing, which is one of the tools needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

VIB has signed an agreement with BASF to acquire its CropDesign site in Nevele, Belgium. VIB and CropDesign have had a close scientific relationship for more than 15 years. 

Aphea.Bio, a Belgium-based agtech startup, announced today that it secured a €14 million Series B round led by Astanor Ventures and joined by current shareholders V-Bio Ventures, Agri Investment Fund, PMV, Vives Fund, VIB, Qbic II and Gemma Frisius Fund. 

European researchers involved in the CropBooster-P project have developed four contrasting scenarios for the future of biotechnology. These scenarios take into account several trends in politics, society, demography and the environment. 

The European Commission has appointed five new members to the European Research Council's (ERC) governing body. This Scientific Council consists out of Europe's top scientists and is instrumental in determining our scientific future. Dirk Inzé (VIB-UGent) is one of the ERC Scientific Council's new members.

VIB START UP NEWS - Today, Biotalys NV, a transformative food and crop protection company, announces that it has submitted its first protein-based biocontrol, Evoca™, to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States for approval.