Advancing knowledge, transforming health care

Inspired by our founder, Christian de Duve (winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine), the 320 researchers, technicians and employees of de Duve Institute work every day with passion, determination and a collaborative spirit to better understand diseases in order to cure them more effectively.

Attracting talent from all over the world, the teams focus on fundamental research in areas as varied as cancer, viral and bacterial infections, diabetes, genetic diseases and many others.

Do you want to help the institute?

Focus on our 5 research programs

Today, the Institute has 31 research groups based around 5 programs

Fundamental research is crucial

Our fundamental research seeks to answer questions about how health works at its most basic level. Although this research does not always have an immediate practical application, it can lead to important discoveries and innovations later on.

In the biomedical field, we study the underlying mechanisms of human health and disease at the level of molecules, cells and the organism.

Without this fundamental research, there would be no clinical research (involving patients) and no new treatments for diseases.

Today's discoveries are laying the foundations for tomorrow's medicine, to the benefit - one day - of thousands of patients.

Support our project : "UltraZOOM"

Our bodies are made up of more than a hundred thousand billion cells. In the event of disease, the challenge is to identify the molecular dysfunctions that cause it.

The UltraZOOM project will enable our researchers to 'zoom in' even further, by penetrating tiny groups of cells to analyse proteins and their (dys)functioning.

The project - which includes a state-of-the-art robot with consumables, computer equipment incorporating artificial intelligence and an experienced bioinformatician - requires a budget of € 610,000.

Support the UltraZOOM project :
o With € 100, you will cover 1 day's use of the CellenONE robot
o With € 300, you finance the consumables needed for 1 protein analysis
o With € 1,000, you will cover 3 weeks' cost of the computer hardware needed to develop artificial intelligence
o With € 20,300, you become part of the Club of 30 and finance 1/30 of the entire project

Our institute within UCLouvain

Our institute is located on the UCLouvain health sciences campus. Every year, we train and graduate around twenty doctors in science. Our laboratory directors teach in the faculties of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and biomedical sciences.

Our key partners