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Looking at a sample of individuals representative of the Luxembourgish population, researchers from the LIH Department of Population Health (DoPH) showed that increased visceral adipose tissue (VAT), located inside the abdominal cavity between the organs, is strongly associated with an increased risk of developing cardiometabolic disorders. To study this relationship, the scientists used recently developed and validated anthropometric predictive models of VAT, which distinguished VAT from other forms of adipose tissue. Their findings were published in the April issue of the Nature Publishing Group journal “Scientific Reports”.

On May 5th 2020, the first participants were being enrolled in the newly launched Predi-COVID cohort. Fast-forward to May 2021, these initial volunteers have been invited to take part in the final follow-up foreseen under the study, which will specifically seek to shed light on the features of “Long COVID” through a new dedicated questionnaire.

To be part of a joint research project of the “Human Biomonitoring Research Unit” (Group Leader: Brice Appenzeller, PhD) and the “Nutrition & Health Research Group” (Group Leader: Torsten Bohn, PhD) within the Department of Population Health at the LIH, we are currently looking for a Master student in Toxicology/Public Health.

The Human Biomonitoring Research Unit (HBRU) is specialized in the assessment of human exposure to pollutants and on the study of exposure-associated health outcomes. Research activities rely on both animal experimentation and human volunteers within epidemiological studies. The laboratory is equipped with up-to-date analytical equipment mainly consisting in CG-MS/MS and UHPLC-MS/MS).

Following a first call for proposals in December 2020, a bilateral project involving the Human Biomonitoring Research Unit (HBRU) of the LIH Department of Population Health (DoPH) and the University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM) was selected for funding on March 29th under the Québec-Luxembourg programme AUDACE, a joint initiative of the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) and of the Quebec Research Fund (FRQ). The scheme aims to support innovative and high-impact interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaborations between Quebec and Luxembourg scientists.

WEBINAR: Lecture series in Infection & Immunity - "Antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination" - Prof Florian Krammer

In a recent study, scientists from the Human Biomonitoring (HBRU) research unit of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) exploited hair analysis to assess the exposure to 67 different organic pesticides in 497 adults representative of the population of the Grand Duchy. The researchers detected an average of 19 pollutants per individual, with some chemicals being present across the entire study cohort. The findings, which were published in April in the renowned international journal ‘Environment International’, unequivocally highlight the simultaneous exposure of the population to numerous different pollutants and set the basis for a more holistic understanding of their combined effect on human health.

On April 26th 2020, Hannah Wurzer, doctoral candidate within the Cytoskeleton and Cancer Progression (CCP) group of the LIH Department of Oncology (DONC), and Dr Clément Thomas, Leader of the research group, were awarded the ‘Marian Aldred Award’ by Think Pink Lux (TPL). The symbolic EUR 20,000 cheque was handed over to the two awardees during a ceremony that took place at the LIH premises in Strassen, in the presence of Mrs Carrie Cannon and Mr Laurent Vanot from the Think Pink Lux committee.