50 | 2025 GIGA Annual Report Finally, closer links have been established with platforms at CIRM, FARAH and CIP, enabling us to strengthen our collective expertise and optimize available resources. Can you talk about the GT4health project selected by the Walloon Region as part of the Win4Excellence program? It’s also a fine example of collaboration. The GT4Health project is one of the great success stories of 2024. It has been selected by the Walloon Region as part of the Win4Excellence program, with overall funding of 10 million euros, including 4.5 million for ULiège laboratories. This ambitious project aims to develop innovative approaches to gene therapy for complex pathologies, drawing in particular on the expertise of GIGA’s Viral Vectors platform for vector production. By strengthening collaborative research between the universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, CER Groupe and industrial partners, this project plays an active role in the creation of a high-performance biotech ecosystem in Wallonia. And beyond ULiège, what were the highlights of the year? The year 2024 was particularly rich in exchanges with other technology centers. In March, we welcomed the Plateformes Lilloises en Biologie Santé, after visiting their facilities in 2023. In October, a GIGA delegation visited BioCampus Montpellier, renowned for its model of platform structuring. We also stepped up our exchanges with the Health Sciences platforms at UCLouvain, with a visit in November, while in July we received a delegation from the University Hospital of Brussels (H.U.B). Finally, the Animal Facility has initiated a collaboration with the University of Ghent, notably through an exchange of ideas and techniques between the teams of animal care workers from the two institutions. We also took part in the Networking Symposium on Core Facilities, organized by Flanders BioImaging and EuroBioImaging in Hasselt. Sandra Ormenese, head of the Cellular Imaging & Flow Cytometry platform, was invited to take part in a panel on research infrastructures, testifying to our recognition at (inter)national level. What are the concrete benefits of these exchanges? There are many! These interactions enable us to improve our practices, optimize the organization of our platforms and enrich the training of our staff. By drawing inspiration from the Lille and Montpellier models, we have been able to identify avenues for better operational management and more efficient structuring. Structuring platforms is a major challenge if we are to remain efficient and attractive. What’s more, these exchanges facilitate access to new technologies and methodologies, which directly benefits our researchers. Are the platforms working on alternatives to animal experiments? Absolutely. Several initiatives have been set up to limit and optimize the use of animal models. Thanks to support from the FWB and the Walloon Region, as part of the Technological Excellence Platform “Alternatives to animal experiments”, we have acquired a cell-sorting flow cytometer, the Cytoflex SRT. This equipment enables us to perfect in vitro models and develop organoid cultures, thus helping to reduce the need for animal experiments. In addition, a new IPSc platform will be operational in autumn 2025. It will facilitate the generation of organoids and 3D models that faithfully reproduce human tissue, paving the way for more ethical and physiologically relevant
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