Flanders BioImaging, an interuniversity research consortium dedicated to biomedical imaging and advanced light microscopy, has received 4.3M euro of funding in the recent FWO-International Research Infrastructure call.
Flanders BioImaging is an inter-university consortium including core facilities from all Flemish universities and VIB. It coordinates, integrates, and optimizes Flanders' state-of-the-art imaging infrastructure and expertise. The cooperation now received a €4.3M grant via the FWO International Research Infrastructure program, promoting the Flemish participation in international research infrastructure and supporting initiatives carried out at large-scale international facilities.
The funding allows Flanders BioImaging to raise the efficiency of imaging infrastructure exploitation, accelerate technological development and consolidate the leading international position of Flanders in bio-imaging. With the grant, Flanders BioImaging can also participate in EuroBioImaging, a landmark European Research Infrastructure Consortium for biological and biomedical imaging. This will enable the Flanders BioImaging partners to provide cutting-edge spearpoint imaging applications across Europe.
The University of Antwerp is a longstanding partner in Flanders BioImaging (promotors: Prof. Winnok De Vos and Prof. Sigrid Stroobants). With the Antwerp Centre for Advanced Microscopy (ACAM), operated by the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Histology, and the new MICA-BIL Core Facility for preclinical imaging, operated by the Molecular Imaging Center Antwerp and the Bio-Imaging Lab, the University of Antwerp houses all necessary expertise and equipment to perform multiscale, multimodal and translational imaging studies. The imaging experts in these research groups are founding members of the IMARK IOF Consortium and the µNEURO Research Centre of Excellence, supporting collaborations with both industry and academia.
With the support from this FWO Grant, Flanders BioImaging became an official member of Euro-BioImaging in December 2023. This association will facilitate cross-border imaging collaborations and enable sharing of Flanders' extensive expertise in microscopy and (pre)-clinical imaging.