Blog – Page 2

Will four wonderful Isala years get your vote?

The morning of the Isala launch, 24 March 2020… I remember it vividly, as if it were yesterday. After a year and lots of preparations, it was almost unbelievable that the big day had finally arrived. Were we really about to launch? After many people doubted that we could find 200 women willing to donate a vaginal sample? Right in the middle of the pandemic? They called us ‘crazy’ and ‘very ambitious’ and wished us good luck. Fast forward 10 days… We had over 6000 registrations and even had to close off the recruitment call. Now, here we are, more than 4 years later…

Anticonception or anti contraception? Isala and sociology researchers join forces

Having fun in bed without worrying about unplanned pregnancies. Sounds nice, right? Today, there are several “remedies” on the market to prevent unplanned pregnancies, each with its own pros and cons. There are also still the long-standing methods such as calendar methods or “getting out of church before singing” (aka withdrawal). In short, the choice of contraceptive method is very personal and can change throughout your life. We also see certain trends in society on this topic. That made us curious! We, Leen, Nina and Naomi, are researchers at the Center for Population, Family and Health at the University of Antwerp and, like the Isala researchers, we wondered which choices the Isala participants make when it comes to contraception. And are their choices related to their socioeconomic status and other lifestyle factors? Isala collected -thanks to all of you- a unique dataset. So, we explored it together and wrote an interesting scientific article! 🙂

Wanted: 1000 vaginas for new Isala studies!

The Isala train is embarking on its journey once more! Women are invited to write history together, advance global women’s health and to discover which bacteria live in their vagina. Would you like to join us? Be ready! 🙂

Participating in the Isala project: Poverty as a silent opponent?

The Isala team is very grateful for the thousands of Isala women that participated in the first research phase. But did you ever wonder what this group looked like? When I started my Master’s degree in Sociology at the University of Antwerp, I got the opportunity to choose a Master’s thesis from a wide range of topics. I realized very quickly that one topic really stood out: ‘inclusive citizen science’, using the Isala project as a case study.

A successful start in Nigeria: a great symposium and interactive radio show

Last summer, the Dora team organized the very first symposium to launch the Nigerian sister project. The event was held in an auditorium at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria and attracted a lot of people, including college staff, students, and members of the public, including the State Commissioner for Health of Anambra (the state where the university is located). Let’s look back on this special day! In addition to that, the Dora team was welcomed in a radio show. No need to worry if you missed it because in this blog you will discover how it went, as if you were there. 🙂

Get to know Lactobacillus isalae: the first official Isala baby bacterium

Woohoo! Thanks to the vaginal swabs of our Isala participants, we discovered a completely new bacterial species in the vagina! It was up to us to name this new bacterium ourselves and we called it Lactobacillus isalae. With this, we wanted to honor Isala Van Diest, but the scientists reviewing our proposal emphasized that we should also highlight our Isala project in the description. Quite an honor! This wasn’t possible without our amazing participants. Keep on reading to discover more about this new vaginal bacterium and the scientific article dedicated to it! 😊