The dietary pattern in Flanders has evolved in recent years. There is a gradual shift from the consumption of animal proteins to vegetable proteins (protein transition). This shift is encouraged by the government and is increasingly being expressed by consumers, leading to a reduced Flemish meat consumption, a trend that is likely to continue in the coming years. The main reasons for this are health considerations, ethical considerations ...
Since the discovery of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), a lot of new FPs have been discovered or developed such that today the complete color spectrum is covered. All fluorescent proteins have the same architecture, consisting of an 11-stranded β barrel. An α helix crosses the centre of this barrel and bears the chromophore, which is autocatalitically formed from a tripeptide in aerobic conditions. FPs play a major role in the visualization ...
With the increasing interest in and use of plant proteins by food industries, the lack of basic knowledge regarding the behavior of these proteins in several processes is becoming a bottleneck for further exploitation. Soy is an interesting raw material for producing protein-rich food products given its high protein content and good nutritional profile. The main objective of this project proposal is to increase basic knowledge on the impact ...
Synthetic DNA and RNA-based oligonucleotides have opened new frontiers in therapy owing to their ability to interfere with gene expression (antisense, siRNA) and bind a wide spectrum of targets (aptamers). However, such nucleic acid therapeutics do not have a clinical potential due to their inherent structure made of repeating 3’-5’-phosphodiester bonds, which renders them prone to fast chemical and enzymatic degradation under physiological ...
Last year, researchers from KU Leuven realised a Ag nanocluster-embedded zeolite (Ag-zeolite) system exhibiting near-perfect efficiency for UV to VIS down-conversion (quantum yield, QY= 1), providing a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution to lowering our reliance on a shorting supply of rare-earth phosphors. This result was achieved for a single Ag-zeolite assembly type and the exact nature of its absorptive and emissive ...
Adding swirl to jet flows has severable favorable effects in many engineering applications. It is well known for instance that swirl enhances mixing and recirculation in jet flows. Despite the favorable effects of swirl, addition of swirl can also exhibit unfavorable effects. At certain levels of swirl, large scale coherent structures are formed such as vortex breakdown or the Precessing Vortex Core. These structures involve instabilities ...
The forest canopy is a region of vast ecological relevance constituting the bulk for photosynthetically active foliage and biomass. Canopy-radiation interactions taking place in forest canopies are fundamental in understanding forest growth, regeneration and dynamics. Light detection and ranging scanning systems, have greatly contributed to the development of comprehensive 3D models across a wide range of disciplines, and is becoming key in ...
Over the past years, the number of poorly soluble drugs has significantly increased, resulting in low and variable oral bioavailability. To address this problem, a promising strategy is to disperse the drug at the molecular level in an inert polymeric carrier, which is known as an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD). One of the most commonly used manufacturing methods for ASDs is spray drying. Several commercial ASD formulations have been ...