Quarterly Newsletter of Vib. March 2019
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QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF VIB. VIBTIMES MARCH 2019 YOUR RESEARCH, OUR TECHNOLOGY YOUR RESEARCH, OUR TECHNOLOGY WHY VIB CORES An integrated technology ecosystem that comes to fruition at VIB 4 The VIB technology ecosystem 6 ARE NICKNAMED Better together 7 Going beyond the helpdesk 8 At the interface of proteomics and metabolomics 10 ‘TECHNOLOGY CENTERS Our Core Facilities 12 High-throughput screening underpins drug discovery 14 Artificial intelligence empowers core facilities to stay ahead 16 OF EXCELLENCE’ Our Microscopy experts push the boundaries of 3D microscopy 17 The art of sharing science 18 Hungry for hops or technology intelligence? VIB alumnus Mark Veugelers is your man 20 When I first visited VIB, I was deeply impressed with the wide availability of advanced technologies. Back then, I was living in the US, SCIENCE MEETS SCIENCE where I sometimes felt my work got stuck in Crossing borders to empower top tech 22 first gear. This was often due to the lack or A host of immunological insights in just 3 months 24 bad organization of core facilities available at Quickscan 26 the institution where I was employed. New insights into radial expansion of plants can boost biomass production 28 As a consequence, I didn’t have easy access Identical twins light the way for new genetic cause of arthritis 29 to novel technologies. A gut feeling for mental health 30 Researchers answer decades-old question about protein found in Clearly, it was quite a contrast to the specialized Alzheimer’s brain plaques 32 equipment and services housed at VIB cores, Uncovering the routes that make tumors grow and spread 34 which are fully adapted to the needs of the wider scientific community. And what’s more, VIB’s core researchers spare no effort to provide thorough advice in terms of technology and to obtain data of the highest quality. SCIENCE MEETS TECHNOLOGY VIB partners with BioLegend on their TotalSeqTM antibodies to Ever since I began counting on the support of boost single cell multi-omics 36 these ‘technology centers of excellence’, I’ve Oxford Nanopore Technologies offers VIB scientist new insights into the human genome 36 been exploring various technological avenues Mission Bio joins forces with VIB to revolutionize single-cell DNA analysis 37 I might otherwise not have tried to pursue. That’s why implementing interdisciplinary technologies in my research feels comfortable SCIENCE MEETS BUSINESS now. Even more, it’s driving many of our Top stories from the VIB spin-off world 38 scientific breakthroughs. The Tech Watch Program also greatly contributes to this: in scouting for ground-breaking technologies and SCIENCE MEETS PEOPLE bringing them to VIB labs, centers and cores, Awards 40 this initiative puts VIB scientists directly up front. Did you know... 41 In this edition of VIBnews, you will explore the broad offer of VIB cores, which reach far beyond simply providing technological support. EVENTS You’ll also gain insight into their histories and When science meets history: a unique VIB science event 42 discover the newest de-risked technologies Boost your career by attending a VIB Conference 43 they make available. Calendar 44 Gabriele Bergers, VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology Your research, our technology current cores. In order to offer an efficient and qualitative service in this exciting new field, multiple cores join forces to build a kind of virtual single-cell technology platform, while at the same time each core maintains its own identity. Although this is very challenging, it is worth the effort as our users are able to address a single point of contact for their single-cell project.” Stefaan: “So, in a way, this new hub marks the start of a profound collaborative effort between the VIB cores. As we expect future technologies to demand more and more expertise in multiple fields, we will spend ever more effort on bringing knowledge from our cores together in an integrated fashion. AN INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY The future will tell us whether we should re-orient, integrate existing cores, or build new ones acting in ECOSYSTEM THAT COMES TO such fields as single-cell technology.” Gert Van Isterdael FRUITION AT VIB Geert Van Minnebruggen Is there any possibility for the external community to contribute to this ecosystem? Geert: “Sure. For pharma and biotech companies, VIB is active in several life science disciplines, associated in several centers. Though, rather than operating independently, for example, it is also important to keep up with the various centers, labs and cores act together in an ecosystem built upon advanced technology integration. technological innovations. But they often lack time and/or expertise to discover and test them, so they connect with us for de-risking and accessing new The impact of joining forces shouldn’t be under- possibly applicable for the VIB research community. technologies. Their strategic discussion to team up estimated, as Geert Van Minnebruggen (Head of the On a daily base the team analyzes a dozen of with us also makes them part of the ecosystem.” Science & Technology Unit, including the Core Facility promising biotech innovations.” Program), Stefaan Derveaux (VIB Nucleomics Core) Gert: “In return, through service agreements, they and Gert Van Isterdael (VIB Flow Core, Ghent) agree. Geert: “The Technology Innovation Lab, which partly finance the installment and maintenance of The three experts resolutely put their weight behind Tech Watch rolled out in 2017, de-risks these our infrastructure, which is – generally speaking the technology ecosystem that crosses VIB borders. emerging techniques, makes them more mature, – very expensive. Also, collaborations of this type and facilitates their smooth integration into labs make it possible for us to significantly decrease our VIB has gained a reputation as a unique and cores. In doing so, the Innovation Lab ensures costs per experiment.” technology ecosystem on the European that our core facilities only offer reliable technology continent. How did this happen? services to the scientific community. Clearly, the How do you make sure that the technology Geert: “The ecosystem was built in several stages. Innovation Lab constitutes the missing link between ecosystem at VIB develops in the right way? In 2000, we set up our first core to provide VIB Tech Watch and VIB core facilities and, as such, Geert: “Every five years, VIB cores are evaluated by research groups with centralized technology boosts the technology ecosystem.” a panel of international experts. As a matter of fact, platforms. Since then cores were incubated in VIB our last assessment led to our current attempts to campuses in Ghent, Leuven, Brussels and Antwerp, Rumor has it that the impact of the VIB better integrate the different cores.” allowing automatic exchange of technological know- ecosystem is particularly visible in the field of Stefaan Dervaux how between labs and these newly built cores.” single-cell technology. Why’s that? Gert: “Of course, this evaluation is an important Gert: “Single-cell technology stands at the crossroads stimulus for us. But the dynamic work environment Stefaan: “In 2008, the VIB Tech Watch program of several disciplines represented at VIB. This is at VIB also plays an essential role, since it allows came into the picture. This unique program aims to only natural, since research in this field requires for effective interaction and collaboration between scout and introduce emerging technologies that are diversified expertise. This isn’t ignored by the researchers and facility heads. This, in turn, results in an enthusiastic and ambitious workforce, which makes a real difference.” Your research, our technology 5 THE VIB TECHNOLOGY ECOSYSTEM THE VIB TECHNOLOGY ECOSYSTEM BETTER TOGETHER THE ADVANCE OF (OMICS) DATA INTEGRATION AT VIB To remain competitive in the era of big data, VIB seeks to strengthen its position in the field of data integration. As such, the VIB BioInformatics Core Facility – one of the VIB cores – develops reproducible analysis workflows to identify correlations between various ‘omics’ data sets. ‘Omics’ is an umbrella term covering genomics, TOWARDS A COMPLETE DATA ECOSYSTEM SINGLE CELL transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, By integrating information from different research among others. At the initiative of Lennart Martens groups, the VIB BioInformatics Core boosts the VIB ACCELERATOR VIB PI COMMUNITY (VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology) and data ecosystem. “After meeting the heads of the Alexander Botzki (VIB BioInformatics Core), VIB Metabolomics Core and the Proteomics Core in hired the first ‘omics data integration specialist’ at Leuven and Ghent, for example, we set up a plan the institute: Oren Tzfadia. We asked him how this to streamline omics data flowing to various core CO-CREATION new position took shape and which services the VIB facilities, allowing for optimized meta-information BioInformatics Core precisely offers in this field. to enhance biological discoveries,” Oren elaborates. A MULTILAYER SPECIALTY The aim for the future is to bring this ecosystem to Oren’s job goes beyond simply data integration. the next level. Oren: “We will not only collaborate “Of course, I help VIB scientists discover and more closely with other core facilities to design understand state-of-the-art tools to analyze omics tools that meet their specific demands, but we will TECHWATCH data from different sources in their labs. With the also stimulate data reproducibility efforts across VIB CORES help of Alex, I render the installations user friendly all research groups.” To realize this plan, the VIB SCOUTING and make sure they run smoothly by wrapping BioInformatics Core is developing a Nextflow FUNDING SERVICE OFFERING tools in a Docker container,” Oren explains. pipeline to analyze various omics data in the same “However, since plenty of the data at VIB remains set, using different tools, like MOFA and WGCNA. unused, it is also my task to expand the concept What is more, VIB recently recruited Vid as ‘data of data integration to the entire institute – that is steward’ – a brand-new function at the institute.