In 2025, CRIG launched the second call for ‘partnership grants’ for duos consisting of a fundamental/translational researcher & a health care professional to initiate innovative cancer research projects. The main purpose of these partnership grants is to stimulate the interaction between the lab and the clinic, to create leverage by stimulating and increasing the success rate of future larger project applications, and to maximize chances to build further on the project.

We are proud to announce that Prof. Kathleen Claes and Prof. Karen Geboes have been awarded this grant for their project “BIOPANC: Unlocking Molecular Clues for Early Pancreatic Cancer Detection”. ​In this proof-of-concept study, they will collect pancreatic juice and blood from patients undergoing endoscopic ultrasound and analyze the cfDNA derived from these samples using advanced genetic and epigenetic techniques to detect tumor-derived signals. By comparing PJ-based markers with standard tests such as CA19-9, they aim to identify more sensitive tools for early detection and better risk stratification.

At the PrIOMiC-OncoPoint Symposium 2026, our team proudly attended this two day cancer research meeting in Gent. Hannah and Nele each delivered a two minute pitch and Elyne presented her poster, creating a valuable opportunity to share our work and connect with fellow researchers. ​The symposium ended on a high note with Nele winning one of the poster prizes. 🏆

Hannah and Nele had the pleasure of presenting their research at Research Day 2026, sharing their work and connecting with fellow researchers.

At the tenth MD Scientific Meeting, Nele presented her work on shallow whole genome sequencing of cfDNA in pancreatic cancer. The meeting was highly engaging and brought together clinicians, researchers and technology specialists active in molecular diagnostics.

​Nele attended the ESHG (European Society of Human Genetics) conference in Milan, where she presented her research poster on copy number profiles in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and tumor tissue in pancreatic cancer. The conference was packed with interesting talks and new insights in genetics, definitely an inspiring few days! 🧬💪

We're looking for a new assistant to join our team. Are you passionate about molecular research, teaching, and curious about how deep mutational scanning can help tackle breast cancer? Apply now and become part of our research team.
🧬You’ll combine PhD research with teaching 
 ❗  Apply before 8 July 2025.
​👉 More info & how to apply

Congratulations to Elyne De Neef and Michiel Vanhooydonck on their new publication in Lab Animal:
"Prime editing outperforms homology-directed repair as a tool for CRISPR-mediated variant knock-in in zebrafish"
Their study demonstrates that prime editing achieves higher editing efficiency and fewer off-target effects than conventional HDR approaches for introducing disease-relevant variants in zebrafish. A major step forward in precise genome editing and disease modeling!

Check out Nele's preprint uncovering potential bias of the Parsortix device towards epithelial cancer cells!
​www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.05.621344v1.article-info

Fresh from the EACR Liquid Biopsy Congress in Lyon: Kathleen and Nele had a fantastic time, and Nele presented her poster on Parsortix device bias towards epithelial cancer cells! A great conference filled with inspiring talks, engaging discussions, and valuable feedback.

On May 14th, the first even small animal model symposium was in Ghent. An event that highlighted the potential and versatility of small animal models across diverse research domains, including disease modeling, drug and toxicology screening, behavioral studies, and investigations into biological processes and development. Elyne and Charlotte both presented their work and showed how they use zebrafish as a model in research.

At the end of April, CRIG held its annual OncoPoint meeting in Ghent. For our lab, Kathleen, Elyne, and Charlotte joined this very interesting meeting. Elyne was selected to present her research in a poster presentation, as well as during a short pitch presentation.

​On the 12th of April, the annual Belgian Society for Human Genetics meeting was held in Leuven. Kathleen, Elyne and Nele attended this very educational and engaging meeting. Both Elyne and Nele presented their work with a poster. 

From October 2nd to the 5th, Elyne went to Durham, USA, to attend the 16th Zebrafish Disease Modeling conference. It was a very interesting conference with all experts in the field of zebrafish research, that allowed a lot of interesting face to face conversations. It was the ideal place to network, exchange ideas and troubleshoot. Elyne presented her work with a poster presentation.

Begin May CRIG held his annual OncoPoint meeting in Ghent, this time two days in a row. 
For our lab Kathleen, Elyne, Nele, Sophie and Bram attended one our two days, also our new exchange student Ada joined us.

Sophie held a poster presentation and was selected for a short pitch presentation, after the meeting she was even announced as one of the best pitch presentations! So many congrats Sophie!!!

And that wasn't all for the first week off May, on the 5th the Department of Biomolecular Medicine organized their GE31 Science Meeting in Zwijnaarde.
Kim, Elyne, Nele and Ada attended for our research team.

On friday 17 March the annual Belgian Society for Human Genetics meeting was held in Charleroi.
For our lab Kathleen, Robin, Sophie, Elyne and Bram attended.

Elyne and Sophie presented their work with a poster.
​
See you next year in Louvain!

In november Lynn attended the RARE-MED symposium with a poster and was selected for a short pitch to promote her latest work.