News

  • bar-code-24157_1920
    International

    Barcode-free platform for drug discovery

    2025-10-28T15:50:00Z

    A new platform called self-encoded libraries has made the process of looking for drug candidates much simpler. This hit discovery method does not require large biomolecular tags, Leiden researchers show in Nature Comunications. ‘We believe this might democratise early drug discovery.’

  • Cel tracking
    International

    Cell tracking algorithm keeps an eye on AI

    2025-10-27T12:31:00Z

    Tracking cells in three-dimensional cell models such as organoids often requires lengthy manual review work. However, biophysicists at the AMOLF physics research institute have now developed a new algorithm published in Nature Methods that can track cells more efficiently and automatically identify any errors.

  • Vidi
    International

    Vidi 2024: from stress resistant roots to adapting inks

    2025-10-27T09:51:00Z

    Funding has been awarded to the Vidi projects of eight members of the NVBMB and the KNCV. With a maximum of €850,000 each, the researchers can develop their own innovative line of research and set up their own research group.

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    International

    Lipids control lethal launch

    2025-10-22T12:05:00Z

    Our immune system deploys specialized ‘killers’ to tackle viruses or tumor cells. As it turns out, the cellular lipid metabolism plays a key role in controlling these lethal, but essential tasks. 

  • Triple reporter organoids
    International

    Organoids are now vegan, too!

    2025-10-22T12:01:00Z

    This summer, we wrote about the polyisocyanide hydrogel protocol. Now, a team from Utrecht and Nijmegen has reported in PNAS that this gel has been used for the first time to grow 3D organoids in a completely animal-free environment.

  • Microhotplates
    International

    Metal-organic speed camera distinguishes gases

    2025-10-20T11:42:00Z

    Using a metal-organic framework (MOF), researchers in Leuven have developed a sensor that can distinguish gas molecules based on speed, as reported in Nature Communications.

  • Nobelprijs Chemie 2025
    International

    MOFs get long-awaited Nobel status

    2025-10-08T14:26:00Z

    ‘Well deserved’ and ‘Bound to happen’ summarize the feeling among the MOF community to the news that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 is awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for their pioneering work on metal-organic frameworks.

  • shutterstock_2475105737
    International

    From sports soles to sponges: the recycling of polyurethane foam is becoming a reality

    2025-10-07T09:42:00Z

    Polyurethane foam is found in mattresses, furniture and many other products, and it produces a waste stream that is difficult to recycle. However, a team from the University of Twente has now presented a sustainable method in Green Chemistry for converting this widely used material into reusable building blocks.

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    International

    Shining light on post-polymerisation functionalisation

    2025-10-03T07:27:00Z

    A team from Utrecht University functionalises the C-H-bonds in polyolefins using just UV light without the need for solvents or catalysts, they report in JACS.

  • Kat duwt reactie in goede richting
    International

    Cat pushes carbon rings in the right direction

    2025-10-01T12:48:00Z

    These essential building blocks are found in medicines and commonly used insecticides, but they are also difficult to synthesise: alkylidenecyclopropanes. In Nature, an international team presents a new method that makes producing these ring-shaped carbon structures much more efficient.

  • Graphical abstract
    International

    Programmable precision for peptide positions

    2025-09-24T08:09:00Z

    Using triazine-thiol exchange, a group from Nijmegen was able to program cysteine modifications in peptides by varying the pH, they report in ChemistryEurope.

  • RL SF_photonics3
    International

    3D bioprinter is ‘smart baby’

    2025-09-22T12:14:00Z

    The 3D bioprinting of functional tissues is a complex, step-by-step process that depends on the designer. Now, however, biomedical engineers at Utrecht University have developed new technology published in Nature that integrates advanced imaging and artificial intelligence, enabling the 3D bioprinter to observe and analyse.

  • Elektrochemische reactie
    International

    Green synthesis of aromatic nitriles

    2025-09-17T12:17:00Z

    Leuven researchers have found a way to transform toluene into nitriles using electrochemistry, ammonia and… water! They report on this simple and potentially environmentally friendly procedure in ChemElectroChem.

  • Robotlab
    International

    Big Money for Big Chemistry

    2025-09-10T07:59:00Z

    The National Growth Fund project, ‘Big Chemistry’, has provided eight consortia with €2.8 million. The projects focus on accelerating the search for chemicals with the desired properties.

  • rood-blauw shutterstock_2435527373
    International

    Near-infrared light drives molecular motors

    2025-09-09T11:20:00Z

    In JACS, a team from Groningen and Amsterdam report that they were able to drive molecular motors with near-infrared light using upconverting nanoparticles for the first time.

  • housebuilding-1005491_1920
    International

    ERC Starting Grants awarded

    2025-09-08T12:37:00Z

    With a success rate of 12.2%, obtaining an ERC Starting Grant was no easy feat. Two KNCV- and two NVBMB-members managed to pass the selection and secure a grant.  

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    International

    KNCV Gold Medal 2025 awarded to Bruno Ehrler

    2025-09-03T09:43:00Z

    Bruno Ehrler, head of the Hybrid Solar Cells group at research institute AMOLF in Amsterdam and professor at the University of Groningen is the recipient of the KNCV Gold Medal 2025.

  • shutterstock_2621352647
    International

    Polycyclic amino acids produce a fluorescent hydrogel

    2025-08-27T13:09:00Z

    In the European Journal of Organic Chemistry, researchers from the VUB and the University of the Free State (South Africa) present a new fluorescent peptide hydrogel with easily adaptable sequences. This offers possibilities for targeted, modifiable drug delivery systems.

  • ENW-M grants
    International

    NWO Open Competition ENW-M grants

    2025-08-18T12:05:00Z

    The Open Competition ENW-M grants – intended for “creative, risky ideas and scientific innovations” – were awarded at the end of July, and several members of the KNCV and NVBMB were among the recipients.

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    International

    The true gut feeling: the intestinal nervous system recognises nutrients.

    2025-08-18T11:41:00Z

    According to biomedical scientists at KU Leuven, the function of the digestive system appears to be much more sophisticated than simply pumping food around. In an article published in Nature, they demonstrate how the nervous system in mouse intestines distinguishes between different nutrients.