Research Unit

Research consortium for Rare Diseases

Duration
01 January 2022 → Ongoing
Group leader
Research disciplines
  • Medical and health sciences
    • Emergency medicine anaesthesiology
    • Intensive care anaesthesiology
    • Pain medicine anaesthesiology
    • Anaesthesiology not elsewhere classified
    • Analysis of next-generation sequence data
    • Bioinformatics data integration and network biology
    • Bioinformatics of disease
    • Computational biomodelling and machine learning
    • Computational evolutionary biology, comparative genomics and population genomics
    • Computational transcriptomics and epigenomics
    • Data visualisation and high-throughput image analysis
    • Development of bioinformatics software, tools and databases
    • Ontologies, data curation and text mining
    • Single-cell data analysis
    • Structural bioinformatics and computational proteomics
    • Synthetic biology
    • Bio-informatics and computational biology not elsewhere classified
    • Biomechanics
    • Cybernetics
    • Biomechanics not elsewhere classified
    • Medical biophysics
    • Molecular biophysics
    • Physiological biophysics
    • Biophysics not elsewhere classified
    • Cardiology
    • Vascular diseases
    • Cardiac and vascular medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Dental materials and equipment
    • Oral medicine and pathology
    • Orthodontics and dentofacial orthopaedics
    • Dentistry not elsewhere classified
    • Dermatochirurgy and cosmetic treatment
    • Dermatology
    • Venereology
    • Dermatology not elsewhere classified
    • General diagnostics
    • Microbial diagnostics
    • Molecular diagnostics
    • Protein diagnostics
    • Diagnostics not elsewhere classified
    • Andrology
    • Endocrinology
    • Metabolic diseases
    • Endocrinology and metabolic diseases not elsewhere classified
    • Gastro-enterology
    • Hepatology
    • Gastro-enterology and hepatology not elsewhere classified
    • Biogerontology
    • Environmental gerontology
    • Geriatrics
    • Social gerontology
    • Gerontology and geriatrics not elsewhere classified
    • Family planning
    • Foetal development
    • Gynaecology
    • Obstetrics
    • Reproductive medicine
    • Gynaecology and obstetrics not elsewhere classified
    • Hematology
    • Hematology not elsewhere classified
    • Adaptive immunology
    • Allergology
    • Applied immunology
    • Autoimmunity
    • Immunogenetics
    • Inflammation
    • Innate immunity
    • Transplantation immunology
    • Vaccinology
    • Immunology not elsewhere classified
    • Emergency medicine
    • Medical intensive care
    • Surgical intensive care
    • Intensive care and emergency medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Anatomical pathology
    • Clinical chemistry
    • Clinical genetics and molecular diagnostics
    • Clinical hematology
    • Clinical microbiology
    • Laboratory medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Carbohydrates
    • Energy metabolism
    • Inorganic elements and compounds
    • Lipids
    • Nucleic acids
    • Other organic elements and compounds
    • Proteins
    • Regulation of metabolism
    • Medical biochemistry and metabolism not elsewhere classified
    • Diagnostic radiology
    • Image-guided interventions
    • Interventional radiology
    • Nuclear imaging
    • Radiation therapy
    • Medical imaging and therapy not elsewhere classified
    • Medical epigenomics
    • Medical fluxomics
    • Medical genomics
    • Medical lipidomics
    • Medical metabolomics
    • Medical metagenomics
    • Medical microbiomics
    • Medical proteomics
    • Medical transcriptomics
    • Medical systems biology not elsewhere classified
    • Bacteriology
    • Infectious diseases
    • Microbiome
    • Mycology
    • Non classified infectious agents
    • Parasitology
    • Virology
    • Microbiology not elsewhere classified
    • Cell death
    • Cell division
    • Cell growth and development
    • Cell movement
    • Cell signalling
    • Cellular interactions and extracellular matrix
    • Cytoskeleton
    • Developmental biology
    • Epigenetics
    • Genetics
    • Intracellular compartments and transport
    • Membrane structure and transport
    • Posttranslational modifications
    • Stem cell biology
    • Structural biology
    • Transcription and translation
    • Molecular and cell biology not elsewhere classified
    • Anatomy
    • Cytology
    • Embryology
    • Histology
    • Morphological sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Behavioural neuroscience
    • Cognitive neuroscience
    • Developmental neuroscience
    • Neuroanatomy
    • Neurological and neuromuscular diseases
    • Neurophysiology
    • Neurosciences not elsewhere classified
    • Cancer biology
    • Cancer diagnosis
    • Cancer epidemiology
    • Cancer prevention
    • Cancer therapy
    • Oncology not elsewhere classified
    • Ophtalmology
    • Optical technology
    • Optometry
    • Opthalmology not elsewhere classified
    • Musculo-skeletal systems
    • Rehabilitation sciences
    • Traumatology
    • Orthopaedics not elsewhere classified
    • Laryngology
    • Otology
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep medicine
    • Otorhinolaryngology not elsewhere classified
    • Palliative care and end-of-life care
    • Palliative care and end-of-life care not elsewhere classified
    • Neonatology
    • Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics and neonatology not elsewhere classified
    • Cell physiology
    • Electrophysiology
    • General physiology
    • Molecular physiology
    • Organ physiology
    • Pathophysiology
    • Systems physiology
    • Physiology not elsewhere classified
    • Behavioural sciences
    • Biological psychiatry
    • Psychotherapy
    • Psychiatry and psychotherapy not elsewhere classified
    • Cell therapy
    • Immunomodulation therapy
    • Tissue engineering
    • Regenerative medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Respiratory medicine
    • Respiratory medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Abdominal surgery
    • Cardiac surgery
    • General surgery
    • Gynaecological surgery
    • Neurosurgery
    • Oncological surgery
    • Oral and maxillofacial surgery
    • Orthopedic surgery
    • Pediatric and infant surgery
    • Plastic surgery
    • Thoracic surgery
    • Transplantation surgery
    • Urological surgery
    • Vascular surgery
    • Surgery not elsewhere classified
    • Tropical medicine
    • Tropical medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Dialysis related medicine
    • Kidney diseases
    • Kidney transplantation
    • Urology
    • Urology and nephrology not elsewhere classified
    • Other basic sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Emergency medicine anesthesiology
    • Intensive care anesthesiology
    • Pain medicine anesthesiology
    • Anaesthesiology not elsewhere classified
    • Analysis of next-generation sequence data
    • Bioinformatics data integration and network biology
    • Bioinformatics of disease
    • Computational biomodelling and machine learning
    • Computational evolutionary biology, comparative genomics and population genomics
    • Computational transcriptomics and epigenomics
    • Data visualisation and high-throughput image analysis
    • Development of bioinformatics software, tools and databases
    • Ontologies, data curation and text mining
    • Single-cell data analysis
    • Structural bioinformatics and computational proteomics
    • Synthetic biology
    • Bio-informatics and computational biology not elsewhere classified
    • Biomechanics
    • Cybernetics
    • Biomechanics not elsewhere classified
    • Medical biophysics
    • Molecular biophysics
    • Physiological biophysics
    • Biophysics not elsewhere classified
    • Cardiology
    • Vascular diseases
    • Cardiac and vascular medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Dental materials and equipment
    • Oral medicine and pathology
    • Orthodontics and dentofacial orthopaedics
    • Dentistry not elsewhere classified
    • Dermatochirurgy and cosmetic treatment
    • Dermatology
    • Venereology
    • Dermatology not elsewhere classified
    • General diagnostics
    • Microbial diagnostics
    • Molecular diagnostics
    • Protein diagnostics
    • Diagnostics not elsewhere classified
    • Andrology
    • Endocrinology
    • Metabolic diseases
    • Endocrinology and metabolic diseases not elsewhere classified
    • Gastro-enterology
    • Hepatology
    • Gastro-enterology and hepatology not elsewhere classified
    • Biogerontology
    • Environmental gerontology
    • Geriatrics
    • Social gerontology
    • Gerontology and geriatrics not elsewhere classified
    • Family planning
    • Foetal development
    • Gynaecology
    • Obstetrics
    • Reproductive medicine
    • Gynaecology and obstetrics not elsewhere classified
    • Hematology
    • Hematology not elsewhere classified
    • Adaptive immunology
    • Allergology
    • Applied immunology
    • Autoimmunity
    • Immunogenetics
    • Inflammation
    • Innate immunity
    • Transplantation immunology
    • Vaccinology
    • Immunology not elsewhere classified
    • Emergency medicine
    • Medical intensive care
    • Surgical intensive care
    • Intensive care and emergency medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Anatomical pathology
    • Clinical chemistry
    • Clinical genetics and molecular diagnostics
    • Clinical hematology
    • Clinical microbiology
    • Laboratory medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Carbohydrates
    • Energy metabolism
    • Inorganic elements and compounds
    • Lipids
    • Nucleic acids
    • Other organic elements and compounds
    • Proteins
    • Regulation of metabolism
    • Medical biochemistry and metabolism not elsewhere classified
    • Diagnostic radiology
    • Image-guided interventions
    • Interventional radiology
    • Nuclear imaging
    • Radiation therapy
    • Medical imaging and therapy not elsewhere classified
    • Medical epigenomics
    • Medical fluxomics
    • Medical genomics
    • Medical lipidomics
    • Medical metabolomics
    • Medical metagenomics
    • Medical microbiomics
    • Medical proteomics
    • Medical transcriptomics
    • Medical systems biology not elsewhere classified
    • Bacteriology
    • Infectious diseases
    • Microbiome
    • Mycology
    • Non-classified infectious agents
    • Parasitology
    • Virology
    • Microbiology not elsewhere classified
    • Cell death
    • Cell division
    • Cell growth and development
    • Cell movement
    • Cell signalling
    • Cellular interactions and extracellular matrix
    • Cytoskeleton
    • Developmental biology
    • Epigenetics
    • Genetics
    • Intracellular compartments and transport
    • Membrane structure and transport
    • Posttranslational modifications
    • Stem cell biology
    • Structural biology
    • Transcription and translation
    • Molecular and cell biology not elsewhere classified
    • Anatomy
    • Cytology
    • Embryology
    • Histology
    • Morphological sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Behavioural neuroscience
    • Cognitive neuroscience
    • Developmental neuroscience
    • Neuroanatomy
    • Neurological and neuromuscular diseases
    • Neurophysiology
    • Neurosciences not elsewhere classified
    • Cancer biology
    • Cancer diagnosis
    • Cancer epidemiology
    • Cancer prevention
    • Cancer therapy
    • Oncology not elsewhere classified
    • Ophtalmology
    • Optical technology
    • Optometry
    • Opthalmology not elsewhere classified
    • Musculo-skeletal systems
    • Rehabilitation sciences
    • Traumatology
    • Orthopaedics not elsewhere classified
    • Laryngology
    • Otology
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep medicine
    • Otorhinolaryngology not elsewhere classified
    • Palliative care and end-of-life care
    • Palliative care and end-of-life care not elsewhere classified
    • Neonatology
    • Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics and neonatology not elsewhere classified
    • Cell physiology
    • Electrophysiology
    • General physiology
    • Molecular physiology
    • Organ physiology
    • Pathophysiology
    • Systems physiology
    • Physiology not elsewhere classified
    • Behavioural sciences
    • Biological psychiatry
    • Psychotherapy
    • Psychiatry and psychotherapy not elsewhere classified
    • Cell therapy
    • Immunomodulation therapy
    • Tissue engineering
    • Regenerative medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Respiratory medicine
    • Respiratory medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Abdominal surgery
    • Cardiac surgery
    • General surgery
    • Gynaecological surgery
    • Neurosurgery
    • Oncological surgery
    • Oral and maxillofacial surgery
    • Orthopedic surgery
    • Pediatric and infant surgery
    • Plastic surgery
    • Thoracic surgery
    • Transplantation surgery
    • Urological surgery
    • Vascular surgery
    • Surgery not elsewhere classified
    • Tropical medicine
    • Tropical medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Dialysis related medicine
    • Kidney diseases
    • Kidney transplantation
    • Urology
    • Urology and nephrology not elsewhere classified
    • Other clinical sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Environmental health and safety
    • Health care administration
    • Health care financing
    • Health economy
    • Health information systems of medical informatics
    • Health management
    • Health promotion and policy
    • Hospital science and management
    • Occupational health and safety
    • Preventive medicine
    • Public health care not elsewhere classified
    • Biostatistics
    • Epidemiology
    • Public health sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Care for disabled
    • Community child health
    • Elderly care
    • Family care
    • Guard duty services
    • Health and community services
    • Medical informatics
    • Mental healthcare services
    • Primary health care
    • Health counselling
    • Quality assurance
    • Residential health care
    • Public health services not elsewhere classified
    • Bioethics
    • History of medicine
    • Philosophy of medicine
    • Social medical sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Other health sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Clinical forensic medicine
    • Forensic pathology
    • Forensic medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Biomechanics
    • Exercise physiology
    • Motor control
    • Sports sciences
    • Human movement and sports sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Geriatric nursing
    • In-home medical nursing
    • Mental health nursing
    • Midwifery
    • Nursing in general medicine and medical specialisms
    • Nursing in general surgery and related specialisms
    • Nursing in preventive care and welfare
    • Pediatric nursing
    • Nursing not elsewhere classified
    • Clinical and sports nutrition
    • Dietetics and molecular nutrition
    • Nutritional physiology
    • Public health nutrition
    • Nutrition and dietetics not elsewhere classified
    • Chiropractic
    • Kinesitherapy
    • Physiotherapy
    • Rehabilitation
    • Rehabilitation sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Alternative and augmentative communication
    • Audiology
    • Language development
    • Sign language
    • Speech and language therapy
    • Voice
    • Speech, language and hearing sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Animal-assisted therapy
    • Medical device usage
    • Music therapy
    • Other paramedical sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Biomarker discovery
    • Biomarker evaluation
    • Biomarker discovery and evaluation not elsewhere classified
    • Clinical trials
    • Compound screening
    • In vitro testing
    • Non-clinical studies
    • Drug discovery and development not elsewhere classified
    • Biomolecular modelling and design
    • Medicinal chemistry
    • Molecular medicine
    • Structural biology
    • Medicinal chemistry not elsewhere classified
    • Biopharmaceuticals
    • Diagnostics
    • Nutraceuticals
    • Radiopharmacy
    • Small molecules
    • Vaccines
    • Medicinal products not elsewhere classified
    • Chemometric techniques
    • Electrochemistry
    • Separation techniques
    • Spectrometry
    • Pharmaceutical analysis and quality assurance not elsewhere classified
    • Biopharmaceutics
    • Pharmaceutical technology
    • Physical pharmacy
    • Pharmaceutics not elsewhere classified
    • Pharmacognosy
    • Phytochemistry
    • Traditional medicine and treatments
    • Pharmacognosy and phytochemistry not elsewhere classified
    • Pharmacodynamics
    • Pharmacokinetics
    • Pharmogenetics and -genomics
    • Pharmacology not elsewhere classified
    • Clinical pharmacy
    • Drug regulation
    • Pharmaceutical care
    • Pharmaco-economics
    • Pharmaco-epidemiology
    • Pharmacotherapy
    • Pharmacotherapy not elsewhere classified
    • Analytical toxicology
    • Clinical toxicology
    • Forensic toxicology
    • Occupational toxicology
    • Toxicogenomics
    • Toxinology
    • Toxicology and toxinology not elsewhere classified
    • Other pharmaceutical sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Emergency medicine anesthesiology
    • Intensive care anesthesiology
    • Pain medicine anesthesiology
    • Anaesthesiology not elsewhere classified
    • Analysis of next-generation sequence data
    • Bioinformatics data integration and network biology
    • Bioinformatics of disease
    • Computational biomodelling and machine learning
    • Computational evolutionary biology, comparative genomics and population genomics
    • Computational transcriptomics and epigenomics
    • Data visualisation and high-throughput image analysis
    • Development of bioinformatics software, tools and databases
    • Ontologies, data curation and text mining
    • Single-cell data analysis
    • Structural bioinformatics and computational proteomics
    • Synthetic biology
    • Bio-informatics and computational biology not elsewhere classified
    • Biomechanics
    • Cybernetics
    • Biomechanics not elsewhere classified
    • Medical biophysics
    • Molecular biophysics
    • Physiological biophysics
    • Biophysics not elsewhere classified
    • Cardiology
    • Vascular diseases
    • Cardiac and vascular medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Dental materials and equipment
    • Oral medicine and pathology
    • Orthodontics and dentofacial orthopaedics
    • Dentistry not elsewhere classified
    • Dermatochirurgy and cosmetic treatment
    • Dermatology
    • Venereology
    • Dermatology not elsewhere classified
    • General diagnostics
    • Microbial diagnostics
    • Molecular diagnostics
    • Protein diagnostics
    • Diagnostics not elsewhere classified
    • Andrology
    • Endocrinology
    • Metabolic diseases
    • Endocrinology and metabolic diseases not elsewhere classified
    • Gastro-enterology
    • Hepatology (incl. pancreas)
    • Gastro-enterology and hepatology not elsewhere classified
    • Biogerontology
    • Environmental gerontology
    • Geriatrics
    • Social gerontology
    • Gerontology and geriatrics not elsewhere classified
    • Family planning
    • Foetal development
    • Gynaecology
    • Obstetrics
    • Reproductive medicine
    • Gynaecology and obstetrics not elsewhere classified
    • Hematology
    • Hematology not elsewhere classified
    • Adaptive immunology
    • Allergology
    • Applied immunology
    • Autoimmunity
    • Immunogenetics
    • Inflammation
    • Innate immunity
    • Transplantation immunology
    • Vaccinology
    • Immunology not elsewhere classified
    • Emergency medicine
    • Medical intensive care
    • Surgical intensive care
    • Intensive care and emergency medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Anatomical pathology
    • Clinical chemistry
    • Clinical genetics and molecular diagnostics
    • Clinical hematology
    • Clinical microbiology
    • Laboratory medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Carbohydrates
    • Energy metabolism
    • Inorganic elements and compounds
    • Lipids
    • Nucleic acids
    • Other organic elements and compounds
    • Proteins
    • Regulation of metabolism
    • Medical biochemistry and metabolism not elsewhere classified
    • Diagnostic radiology
    • Image-guided interventions
    • Interventional radiology
    • Nuclear imaging
    • Radiation therapy
    • Medical imaging and therapy not elsewhere classified
    • Medical epigenomics
    • Medical fluxomics
    • Medical genomics
    • Medical lipidomics
    • Medical metabolomics
    • Medical metagenomics
    • Medical microbiomics
    • Medical proteomics
    • Medical transcriptomics
    • Medical systems biology not elsewhere classified
    • Bacteriology
    • Infectious diseases
    • Microbiome
    • Mycology
    • Non classified infectious agents
    • Parasitology
    • Virology
    • Microbiology not elsewhere classified
    • Cell death
    • Cell division
    • Cell growth and development
    • Cell movement
    • Cell signalling
    • Cellular interactions and extracellular matrix
    • Cytoskeleton
    • Developmental biology
    • Epigenetics
    • Genetics
    • Intracellular compartments and transport
    • Membrane structure and transport
    • Posttranslational modifications
    • Stem cell biology
    • Structural biology
    • Transcription and translation
    • Molecular and cell biology not elsewhere classified
    • Anatomy
    • Cytology
    • Embryology
    • Histology
    • Morphological sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Behavioural neuroscience
    • Cognitive neuroscience
    • Developmental neuroscience
    • Neuroanatomy
    • Neurological and neuromuscular diseases
    • Neurophysiology
    • Neurosciences not elsewhere classified
    • Cancer biology
    • Cancer diagnosis
    • Cancer epidemiology
    • Cancer prevention
    • Cancer therapy
    • Oncology not elsewhere classified
    • Ophtalmology
    • Optical technology
    • Optometry
    • Opthalmology not elsewhere classified
    • Musculo-skeletal systems
    • Rehabilitation sciences
    • Traumatology
    • Orthopaedics not elsewhere classified
    • Laryngology
    • Otology
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep medicine
    • Otorhinolaryngology not elsewhere classified
    • Palliative care and end-of-life care
    • Palliative care and end-of-life care not elsewhere classified
    • Neonatology
    • Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics and neonatology not elsewhere classified
    • Cell physiology
    • Electrophysiology
    • General physiology
    • Molecular physiology
    • Organ physiology
    • Pathophysiology
    • Systems physiology
    • Physiology not elsewhere classified
    • Behavioural sciences
    • Biological psychiatry
    • Psychotherapy
    • Psychiatry and psychotherapy not elsewhere classified
    • Cell therapy
    • Immunomodulation therapy
    • Tissue engineering
    • Regenerative medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Respiratory medicine
    • Respiratory medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Abdominal surgery
    • Cardiac surgery
    • General surgery
    • Gynaecological surgery
    • Neurosurgery
    • Oncological surgery
    • Oral and maxillofacial surgery
    • Orthopedic surgery
    • Pediatric and infant surgery
    • Plastic surgery
    • Thoracic surgery
    • Transplantation surgery
    • Urological surgery
    • Vascular surgery
    • Surgery not elsewhere classified
    • Tropical medicine
    • Tropical medicine not elsewhere classified
    • Dialysis related medicine
    • Kidney diseases
    • Kidney transplantation
    • Urology
    • Urology and nephrology not elsewhere classified
    • Other translational sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Other medical and health sciences not elsewhere classified
Description
A rare disease affects per definition less than one person in 2.000. More than 7.000 rare diseases have been described worldwide, affecting up to 8% of the population. This includes about 800.000 Belgians. Even though each of these diseases are rare, together they have a significant impact on health care. Their rareness, however, poses specific challenges in the field of diagnosis, management, treatment, and research. The inter- and multidisciplinary research consortium for rare diseases aims to combine the excellent expertise in the field of rare diseases present at UGent and UZ Gent and to create novel opportunities with regards to fundamental, clinical, and translational research to precision medicine for rare diseases. Furthermore, the consortium also commits to: - Optimize the interaction between bench and bedside - Train and support (young) researchers - Valorize research - Act as a point of contact for various stakeholders.