LIH scientists were triumphant in more than one category at the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) awards 2021. In a ceremony that took place in Belval, Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) researchers Prof Dr Simone Niclou, Director of the Department of Oncology and group leader of the NORLUX Neuro-Oncology Laboratory and Dr Anna Golebiewska, group leader of the NORLUX Neuro-Oncology Laboratory, received the highly prestigious Outstanding Scientific Achievement award. In addition, Dr Pablo Elias Morande of the LIH Tumor Stroma Interactions group, was bestowed the Outstanding Mentor award.

The Tumor Immunotherapy and Microenvironment (TIME) research group of the LIH Department of Oncology (DONC) teamed-up with Advanced BioDesign to develop innovative combinatorial immunotherapy approaches. The aim is to potentiate the effectiveness of immunotherapy and provide a ground-breaking approach to treat cancers.

Researchers from the LIH Department of Population Health (DoPH) – namely Dr Ala’a Alkerwi and Dr Maria Ruiz-Castell – Gwenaëlle Le Coroller from the LIH Competence Center for Methodology and Statistics (CCMS) and Prof Laetitia Huiart contributed to a collective study on hypertension with data from the national population-based studies “ORISCAV-LUX” (Observation des Risques et de la Santé Cardiovasculaire au Luxembourg) and “EHESLUX” (European Health Examination Survey in Luxembourg). This research, led by Imperial College London in the framework of the international Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC), aimed to understand whether improvements in hypertension detection, treatment and control have been achieved between 1990 and 2019. Available data on this matter are often subject to methodological differences, making it difficult to compare such aspects among multiple countries. Thus, this study aimed to deliver consistent, solid and comparable data on a national, regional and global level. The results were published in August 2021 in the notorious journal The Lancet.

The Luxembourg Institute of Health is organising this free webinar series “Precision Public Health” to reflect on the transition that is currently happening from traditional Population Health to Precision Public Health. Join us in this weekly 4-part series starting November 16, 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked an unprecedented mobilisation and collaboration between Research Luxembourg and the government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In record time, public research institutes and the government launched a series of newly funded research initiatives to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

Dr Pablo Elias Morande, postdoctoral fellow within the Tumor Stroma Interactions (TSI) research group at the LIH Department of Oncology (DONC), has been awarded financial support in the framework of the European Commission’s “Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships” funding scheme with an exceptional score of 99.2%. The grant will back the scientist’s work on the elucidation of some of the specific mechanisms underlying chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), thereby advancing the understanding of tumour progression and improving therapy response.

The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) and the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) are joining forces in the fight against cardio-metabolic diseases in Luxembourg in the framework of the FNR-funded MET'HOOD (Time-varying residential neighbourhood effects on cardio-metabolic health) project. This multidisciplinary research study is carried out by a team of geographers, epidemiologists, nutritionists and experts in physical activity and sports, with the support of local and national public health and regional planning players.

In April 2020, the CON-VINCE project was launched to capture the COVID-19 spread in Luxembourg. Now, in the footsteps of its predecessor, ORCHESTRA Luxembourg builds on this work to follow the immune response to COVID-19 vaccination over time and to provide evidence for the prevention and treatment of infections caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Autoimmune diseases are a hallmark of many modern societies, with onset and progression driven by intestinal barrier dysfunction and a breakdown in normal host–microbiome interactions. Existing autoimmune disease therapies do not consider the influence of the gut microbiome in pathogenesis, which could limit their ability to alter disease progression. A collaboration between the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) and the US University of Michigan Medical School, led by Prof Desai of the LIH, has published a comprehensive Perspective, in the prestigious journal Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology, that argues that emerging personalised medicine approaches should embrace diet-assisted microbiome engineering tools to precisely remodel the microbiome towards a disease-resistant, homeostatic state.