KU Leuven

KU Leuven has a rich tradition of education and research that dates back six centuries. It is currently by far the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure and is a charter member of LERU. KU Leuven conducts fundamental and applied research in all academic disciplines with a clear international orientation. In the Times Higher Education ranking it is ranked as the 13th European university, while in the Reuters Top 100 of the World’s most innovative institutions, KU Leuven is listed as the first European university. Departments involved in LifeLUNG are: Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, Molecular Virology and Gene Therapy, part of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, and the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law. KU Leuven is closely associated to UZ Leuven, the major university hospital in Belgium and one of the largest academic hospitals in Europe which collaborates in advances in biomedicine, clinical studies and bioethics, and where Laurens Ceulemans is director of the Leuven Lung Transplant centre since 2024. This centre has established a solid track record. being one of the leading centres worldwide and performing around 80 lung transplants per year.