On Thursday, November 26th 2020, the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) had the pleasure of welcoming the Director of the André Losch Foundation to its premises in Strassen for a visit of its Clinical and Epidemiological Investigation Centre (CIEC). The event also provided an opportunity to discuss the status of the COVID-19 projects coordinated by LIH and supported by the Foundation.

The Research Strategy Specialist will report to, and work in close partnership with the Director of the Department of Infection and Immunity, supporting and complementing the work of the LIH to deliver excellence in fundamental and biomedical research programmes in Luxembourg. Research at the Department of Infection and Immunity aims to understand the complex immune mechanisms of infections and inflammatory disease processes and cancer, enabling new ways to diagnose and prevent or cure human diseases caused by these disorders.

The European Commission confirmed its support to three new research projects involving the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) submitted within the framework of the Horizon 2020 call “Innovative and rapid health-related approaches to respond to COVID-19 and to deliver quick results for society for a higher level of preparedness of health systems” (SC1-PHE-CORONAVIRUS-2020-2). The projects aim to foster the development of a novel diagnostic test and improve the cooperation between European and international cohorts to strengthen the response to the pandemic. The total funding for the studies amounts to EUR 26.2 million.

The University of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) announce the signing of mutual bilateral cooperation agreements between the University and LIH and between the University and LIST.

The Data Manager & BI Specialist, under the direction of the IT BISManager, will ensure data organization, storage and analysis while alwaysupholding agreed-upon security standards.  He/she will be responsible for overseeing thedevelopment and use of data systems, in order to deliver high quality solutionsthat span multiple technologies/platforms

Launched under the aegis of the Research Luxembourg COVID-19 Task Force on April 24th, “Predi-COVID ” is a cohort study promoted by the Luxembourg Institute of Health that aims to identify the key risk factors and biomarkers associated with COVID-19 severity and comprehend the long-term health consequences of the disease. Predi-COVID will contribute to a better understanding of the heterogeneity observed in disease severity and prognosis, ultimately enabling the accurate evaluation of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and more personalised care recommendations. The protocol of the study was published on November 24th in the ‘British Medical Journal Open’, reinforcing the international visibility and success of this highly collaborative “Made in Luxembourg” project.

On November 18th, Clarivate™ released its annual “Highly Cited Researchers” report, recognising the pioneers in the fields of science and technology who produced multiple highly-cited papers ranking in the top 1% by citations in Web of Science™. Three Luxembourg researchers, including Dr Bohn, are featured in the 2020 edition of this prestigious international ranking.

In October 2020, the second phase of the Biomarkers in Food Allergy Diagnosis (APSIS) clinical trial was officially initiated under the coordination of the LIH Department of Infection and Immunity (DII) and in collaboration with the Centre Hospitalier du Luxembourg (CHL), the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg and the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg (IBBL). This translational study aims to explore the correlation between the clinical and immunological characteristics of allergic patients with the functional features of the gut microbiome, ultimately supporting the development of novel translational strategies for the prevention of food allergies. Dr Annette Kuehn, Principal Investigator of the study and Group Leader of the Molecular and Translational Allergology unit of the LIH Department of Infection and Immunity (DII), explains the key aspects of the project.

Under the responsibility of the CEO, the Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) provides the necessary leadership to ensure that LIH’s information technology applications, platforms and infrastructure are fully integrated to support its research and translational strategy.The CMIO will also lead the creation of an integrated big data platform that will allow Luxembourg’s research community and national/international stakeholders to access integrated clinical and research data, as well as health insurance and social security data. The successful candidate will make sure that information technology and the use of artificial intelligence are as solid as to support and enable transformational system change, in close cooperation with other main key stakeholders, such as health-related government bodies and hospitals.