On May 20th 2021, the Luxembourgish non-profit association “Schëfflenger Kriibshëllef” made a donation to the LIH Department of Oncology (DONC) to support the acquisition of new laboratory equipment for cancer research.

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.

From May 12th until May 14th, about 150 international scientists, clinicians, healthcare professionals and policymakers from 17 nations will gather for the 45th edition of the Group of Cancer Epidemiology and Registration in Latin Language Countries (GRELL) conference which, due to the current pandemic, will take place in a fully virtual format. Organised in Luxembourg for the first time by the National Cancer Registry of Luxembourg (Registre National du Cancer - RNC) at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), the meeting will feature several prominent speakers, providing an opportunity to discuss the latest developments in the field of cancer epidemiology with a particular focus on COVID-19 and cancer, as well as childhood and adolescent cancers. This 2021 edition of the GRELL conference is dedicated to the memory of the late Dr Michel Untereiner, oncologist and Scientific Director of the RNC between January 2013 and March 2021.

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”.

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.

To be part of a joint research project of the “Nutrition & Health Research Group” (Scientist: Hanen Samouda, PhD) and the “Cardiovascular Research Unit” (Group Leader: Yvan Devaux, PhD) within the Department of Population Health at the LIH, we are currently looking for a Master Student in Obesity Paradox & Cardiovascular Health: Oriscav data .

WEBINAR: Lecture series Cancer Research: "The immune contexture and Immunoscore in the era of cancer immunotherapy" - Dr Jérôme Galon

WEBINAR: Lecture series in Infection & Immunity - "Astrocyte subsets and connectivity in CNS inflammation" - Prof Francisco Quintana

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.