UZ Leuven - University Hospitals Leuven High-level research

On the Health Sciences campus Gasthuisberg, basic research, applied and clinical research are literally and figuratively in close proximity. The synergy between basic research and clinical research leads to exceptionally high-level research.

In the field of basic research, the Group of Biomedical Sciences performs ground breaking research together with the University Hospital in order to create medical innovation. Each of the Biomedical Sciences at KU Leuven is organized within 14 departments (cardiovascular diseases, cellular & molecular disease, chronic diseases, metabolism and ageing (CHROMETA), pharmaceutical & pharmacological sciences, human genetics, imaging & pathology, neurosciences, oncology, oral health sciences, development & regeneration, public health and primary care, rehabilitation sciences, movement sciences, microbiology, immunology and transplantation), each containing several research groups. Interdisciplinary networks and institutes (Leuven Brain Institute (LBI), Leuven Cancer Institute (LKI), Medical Imaging Research Center (MIRC), Rega Institute for Medical Research, Stem Cell Institute Leuven (SCIL), Leuven Bioinformatics Interest Group (BIG), Leuven Institute for Human Genomics and Society (LIGAS)) cross the borders of these departments. UZ Leuven is also involved in three strategic research centers: the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology, the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain and Disease Research and Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders (NERF).

In translational research programs, basic biomedical research is linked with clinical research performed at UZ Leuven. Patientoriented studies in the University Hospital are coordinated by the Clinic Trial Center (CTC). Through core facilities researchers have access to innovative technologies.

UZ Leuven is actively taking part in research on inflammatory bowel diseases. Since 2018 ustekinumab, a biological drug, has been available for the treatment of Crohn's Disease. The efficacy and safety of the medicine was recently confirmed in patients who no longer benefited from the standard medication. This was done in two Belgian real-world studies, for which all patient populations qualified and as a result supplemented earlier controlled clinical trials. “The treatment with ustekinumab is user-friendly and it can tackle other inflammatory disorders”, according prof. dr. Séverine Vermeire, gastroenterologist at UZ Leuven who contributed to both trials.

UZ Leuven is also recognized for its involvement in diabetes research thanks to the works of its Diabetes centre. As part of the Global Platform for the Prevention of Autoimmune Diabetes (GPPAD), which was launched in 2015 to offer an infrastructure for trials, the team of prof. dr. Kristina Casteels, paediatric endocrinologist UZ Leuven, aims to trace babies of up to four months with an increased risk of type 1 diabetes. In the so-called Freder1k trial, some drops of blood are enough to determine whether a child has an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes later. Prof. Casteels, the leader of the Belgian trial, says: “A child with an increased risk has 1 chance in 10 of developing the disease.

© UZ Leuven Two week-old Arthur from Dresden was the 100.000th baby screened in the framework of trials supported by the global platform for the prevention of autoimmune diabetes (GPPAD) in which University Hospitals Leuven participates.

The normal risk is 1 in 250.” These children are invited to participate in the POInT (Primary Oral Insulin Trial) study: the POInT study examines whether the development of type 1 diabetes can be prevented in children with an increased risk through preventive treatment with oral insulin. In the meantime, infants can also be screened in 12 other Belgian centres. The aim of the trial is to screen 300.000 children by 2022. Until now more than 5000 babies have been screened in Belgium.

Lung disorders are another field of excellence at UZ Leuven. ArtiQ, a KU Leuven spin-off company which helps doctors diagnose, treat and monitor respiratory disorders, has recently conclued its seed financing round with € 1 million. The money will be used to launch ArtiQ|PFT, a software platform that will be able to quickly and reliably evaluate patients' lung capacity. The platform uses artificial intelligence to interpret pulmonary function tests and thus improves the diagnosis of lung diseases. The software was developed for and partly by doctors of UZ Leuven (among whom prof. dr. Wim Janssens, pulmonologist). The programme has been clinically validated and has supported UZ Leuven doctors for over a year during the diagnosis and treatment of lung disorders. At the moment, the platform can recognise nine common respiratory disorders, such as chronic bronchitis and lung emphysema, asthma and interstitial lung diseases. ArtiQ plans to implement the technology in other Belgian hospitals by the end of 2019.