VUB presents the laureates of the 2026 Science Prizes
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) has presented its prestigious 2026 Science Prizes. In doing so, the university puts the spotlight on researchers whose groundbreaking research is pushing their field forward, while also serving as an inspiring role model for future generations of scientists. The 2026 laureates are cancer researcher Ilse Rooman, reproductive biologist Ellen Goossens, endocrinologist Willem Staels, structural biologist Wim Versées and physicist Vincent Ginis.
Roger Van Geen Prize: Ilse Rooman
The Roger Van Geen Prize awards researchers with exceptional scientific merits. Laureate Ilse Rooman has built a strong international reputation as an expert in pancreatic cancer research over the past twenty years. She received wide recognition for her innovative insights into how cells change their behaviour and can develop into tumours.
Rooman established successful research groups in Sydney and at the VUB, securing significant research funding. At the VUB, she gave cancer research a strong boost with VSTA, a high-tech infrastructure that allows researchers to analyse tissue in minute detail. She also played a key role in BruPaCT, the Brussels network bringing together research on pancreatic cancer. International advisory boards, editorial boards and governing bodies also regularly called on her expertise.
Prof Ilse Rooman: "Thanks to this prize, we can take the next step in our research into the earliest stages of pancreatic gland lesions. By mapping specific cells in even more detail, we hope to better understand how pancreatic cancer develops and how we can intervene earlier."
Contact details Prof Ilse Rooman, Ordinary Professor Translational Oncology Research Centre: Ilse.rooman@vub.be - +32 468 29 15 59
Hilde Bruers Prize: Willem Staels
The Hilde Bruers Prize is intended for young Life Sciences researchers with up to ten years' seniority. Willem Staels combines his work as a paediatrician with a fast-growing research career in diabetes research.
In recent years, Staels brought important new insights into how iron metabolism and signals from blood vessels influence the development and function of insulin-producing cells, as well as how these cells may be able to repair themselves.
With several research grants, including an ERC Starting Grant, he built a strong line of research at the VUB that links basic science to concrete applications for patients. These range from therapies that adjust the immune system to strategies to grow new insulin-producing cells for people with type 1 diabetes.
His research is directly fuelled by his daily work with children with diabetes. This combination of clinical experience and scientific curiosity reinforces his ambition to move from lifelong treatment to real cures over time.
Prof Willem Staels: "With the Hilde Bruers Prize, we want to build an integrated Brussels centre for paediatric diabetes, where care, technology and innovative research reinforce each other. By bringing together expertise from different fields, we want to accelerate both the care of children with diabetes and the development of future treatments."
Contact details Prof. Dr. Willem Staels: willem.staels@uzbrussel.be
Franz Bingen Prize: Wim Versées
The Franz Bingen Prize awards researchers with 10 to 25 years of seniority within Basic, Natural, Applied and Bioengineering Sciences. In recent years, Wim Versées has led a leading line of research within structural biology.
With his team, he unravels, down to the level of individual atoms, how proteins function that play a role in diseases. He translates these insights into new strategies against neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and certain forms of epilepsy, as well as against persistent bacterial infections.
His research group achieved major breakthroughs on Parkinson's proteins LRRK2 and GBA1, the epilepsy protein TBC1D24 and the bacterial protein ObgE, among others. In this research, he made inventive use of nanobodies: tiny and precise particles of antibodies that can stabilise or repair defective proteins. That approach opens new perspectives for future targeted treatments. With 84 publications in top journals, several patents, prestigious funding and international recognition, including an Impact Award from the Parkinson Foundation, Versées shows how basic research can turn into applications relevant to patients.
He also built a strong research team, is actively committed to education and university policy, and brings his research to a wide audience through press appearances, patient organisations and public initiatives.
Prof Wim Versées: "Receiving the Franz Bingen Prize is for me and my entire team a particularly valuable recognition of the research we have built together, and a strong motivation to continue our efforts in the fight against neurological diseases and bacterial persistence. At the same time, it is also a clear confirmation of the importance of basic science research as a driving force of innovation."
Contact details Prof Wim Versées: wim.versees@vub.be
Liebaers-Van Steirteghem Prize: Ellen Goossens
The Liebaers-Van Steirteghem Prize is intended for Life Sciences researchers with 10 to 25 years of seniority. Ellen Goossens has gained a strong international reputation in male reproductive biology over the past 20 years.
She conducts pioneering work on sperm development, both in the body and in the lab, and focuses on preserving fertility in boys and men who are later at high risk of infertility.
Her team developed innovative techniques, such as preserving testicular tissue, returning stem cells that can form sperm cells and implanting pieces of testicular tissue, and translated them from the lab to the clinic. This resulted in a world first in 2024: for the first time, frozen immature testicular tissue was successfully transferred to an adult man who lost his fertility as a child.
With more than 125 scientific publications and support from European, Flemish and VUB funding, Goossens developed a complete research and care pathway that seamlessly combines basic research, advanced 3D models of testicular function and clinical studies.
Prof Dr Ellen Goossens: "With this award, we want to further develop our clinical study and accelerate research on sperm development in the lab. Our ultimate goal is to give boys and men at high risk of infertility more chances of biological parenthood in the future."
Contact details Prof Dr Ellen Goossens, head of the VUB Biology of the Testis (BITE) research unit: via press office
Silvain Loccufier Prize: Vincent Ginis
The Silvain Loccufier Prize will be awarded to Vincent Ginis. This career award honours researchers who combine scientific excellence with social impact in the spirit of free research and the liberal values of the VUB.
Ginis is an applied physicist and moves at the crossroads of physics, artificial intelligence and complex systems. His work on exotic materials and the control of light, including in collaboration with Harvard, has appeared in leading journals such as Science, Nature Photonics and PNAS. In recent years, he has been developing new methods to better understand, systematically test and make AI models safer.
Besides his research, Ginis is an outspoken voice in the public debate on the impact of current and future AI systems on work, education and society. He explains technological evolutions clearly in the media, advocates for open and auditable science, and warns against the risks of opaque algorithms and self-reinforcing feedback loops.
He was previously inducted into the Young Academy and named one of Belgium's 50 most important technological pioneers.
Prof Dr Vincent Ginis: "We are at a pivotal moment where AI systems are becoming more powerful than we can test and control them. My research seeks to fill that gap: developing methods to measure what these systems can do and how they do it. I experience an award for this, which explicitly refers to free research and critical thinking, as a great honour."
Contact details Prof Dr Vincent Ginis, applied physicist, affiliated with the VUB Data Lab: vincent.ginis@vub.be - +32 495 21 31 63
Tineke Sonck
