Name "Responsible (Organisation)" "Activity (Organisation)" "Affiliation (Researcher)" "A patient derived xenograft (PDX) platform for in vivo evaluation of novel anticancer therapies" "Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination (CEV)" "Pierre Van Damme" "The main research activities of the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination (CEV) are: • conduct of vaccine trials (phase 1-4) through a professional vaccination platform • conduct of human challenge studies in adapted facility • Research on development of (vaccine-) devices (e.g. Injection devices) and diagnostic device research • Epidemiology and surveillance of infectious diseases • Conduct of vaccination coverage studies • Research on maternal vaccination • Guidelines for infectious disease prevention and control • Conduct of projects related to the ""One Health"" concept, human and animal infectious diseases" "Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation" "Rianne Janssen" "The research in the Centre for Educational Effectivness and Evaluation focuses on the functioning of schools, teachers and classes.Current studies deal with the school career of secondary school students and the effectiveness of schools. The studies on the school career of students concentrate on the cognitive and non-cognitive effects of repeating classes, the transition from school to job, and the development of the academic self-concept.The studies on school effectiveness focus on the effects of schools, teachers and classes on school achievement and on non-cognitive characteristics of pupils.National assessments are carried out for different domains of attainment targets." "Amphibian Evolution Lab" "Franky Bossuyt" "The Amphibian Evolution Lab is situated in Brussels and is mainly working on the reconstruction of different aspects of amphibian evolution. We tackle multiple kinds of question using modern integrative biology, combining fieldwork and biological essays with lab expertise in transcriptomics, genomics and phylogenetics. Our current research can be divided in three distinct, but often closely intertwined themes: 1) the natural history and evolution group, 2) the toxinocology group and 3) the sensory ecology group." "Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation" "Robby Stoks" "LABORATORY OF AQUATIC ECOLOGY (F. Ollevier, L. Brendonck, L. De Meester, R. Stoks, F. Volckaert) - Aquatic ecology and biodiversity including population genetics & evolutionary genetics of aquatic vertebrates & invertebrates. - Fish diseases (parasites, bacteria) and aquatic microbiology. - Management of aquatic ecosystems (trophical cascade) in relation with eutrophication. - Ecophysiology related with aquaculture, reproduction. - Aquatic ecotoxicology : as well fundamental aspects as their application in aquaculture and evironmental management. - Projects of applied hydrobiology are run in Africa (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya), Asia (China, Vietnam) and South-America (Ecuador, Chili, Bolivia). LABORATORY FOR ENTOMOLOGY (J. Billen) Morphology and ultrastructure of exocrine glands in social insects, phylogeny of the Formicidae, chemical analysis of pheromone-producing glands in social insects, communication and pheromones in social insects, behavioural study of reproduction and dominance in ants. LABORATORY FOR COMPARATIVE ANATOMY AND BIODIVERSITY (K. W outers, W. Van Neer, J. Snoeks) - Systematic revisions of African and South-East Asian freshwater fishes. This research is focused on the economically important fish families such as the Cichlidae (tilapias and several groups from the East African Lakes), Clariidae, Schilbeidae, Bagridae (Chrysichtys) and Mastacembelidae. - Biodiversity studies, concentrated on Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Brazzaville, Ivory Coast and the great East African Lakes (Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi). - Osteology to elucidate relationships within certain fish groups such as the Polypteridae. - Taxonomic and (paleo)ecological study of ostracodes." "Isotope Geology and Evolution of Paleo-Environmnents" "The group GEOL studies the evolution of the environments throughout Earth history. The topics encompasses paleoclimatic research in the last few million years, essentially by investigating the continental record and second documenting the origins and consequences of major biological and climatic changes throughout geological time. Cratering processes by asteroid and comet impacts on Earth (or other planet) constitutes a major research topic together with the study of meteorites to understand formation and evolution of planetary bodies. The analytical tools used are stable isotope (H, O, C, N) and trace element geochemistry. There is also a growing accent on the use of other isotopes systems such as Cr, Lu-Hf etc. Besides these major research fields, attention is also devoted to Sr-isotope geochemistry, as well as hydrological, biogeochemical and environmental changes. In addition, there is a significant interest in exobiology and the origin of life on Earth and other planetary bodies. In term of research, GEOL emphasizes strong national but especially international collaborations and participates in several large-scale international projects. The analytic approach used by GEOL is unique in Belgium and relies on experimentation and the measurements of isotopic ratios in various materials. The GEOL-ANCH stable isotope laboratory hosted at the VUB contains: 3 Gas Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometers (IRMS) with various peripherals for measurements of H, N, C and O isotopic ratios in rock, fossil, sediment, water and organic matter. Thanks to a 2010, Hercules financing a Picarro Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy for D/H and 18O/16O analyses in waters and liquids was added in 2011. These stable isotopes are powerful tracer-tools, with a broad range of application in geology, hydrology, biology, environmental sciences, chemistry, archeology, often resulting in challenging inter-university projects and international collaborations. Stable isotope fractionation allows identifying and quantifying past climatic changes, or physico-chemical modification affecting low and high temperature mineralogical or chemical systems. Their signatures can also be used as a tracer of various processes in hydrogeology, cosmochemistry, archeology or biogeochemistry. This methodology is used to investigate selected ""events"" throughout Earth history and is often coupled with geochronology (Ar-Ar, U-Th or Rb/Sr methods) to place the observed changes in a rigorous time frame. Together with Ghent University, Analytical Chemistry and Dept. of Geology at the KULeuven, GEOL is a partner in the Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (2007 ZWAP financing) for isotopic ratios of non-gaseous elements installed in a state of the art laboratory at Ghent University." "Thaïs Dolferus" "Leen Nijs" "Pieter Leroy" "Rosanne Janssens" "Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy"