This happened at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, thanks to Professor Blanpain and his laboratory team at Stem Cells & Cancer. Their discovery holds great promise for the treatment of chronic skin wounds and the healing and regeneration of tissues during the scarring process. Reading their study published in the journal Cell, we can discover that the researchers observed healing tissue in real time, and made the astounding discovery that stem cells change from a solid state to a liquid one, then to a solid one back again, enabling healing to occur. Working with physicists who are specialists in state changes (gas, liquid, solid), they realized the liquid or gel-like state of cells in the healing phase. This three-stage transition from solid to liquid and then to solid again had never been demonstrated before! In their view, this discovery holds real promise for healing certain wounds and chronic illnesses by taking certain drugs to liquefy wounds and facilitate healing, or by taking a drug that would help these cells to return to their solid state after this liquification stage.

This is another very promising discovery from the Université Libre de Bruxelles & the laboratory Stem Cells & Cancer!

Select your country

Its intense cultural life, its excellent health system, its easy access to a wide variety of sports activities and its high-performing public transport network are just some of the advantages that make French-speaking Belgium such a great place in the world to live.