Researchers from the University of Ghent and the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology have discovered a genetic mutation that could be the trigger for the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, an auto-immune condition with no cure that affects about 100,000 people in Belgium. The experiment on mice could be particularly important for the 30% of sufferers for whom the most common anti-TNF treatment is ineffective.

The University of Ghent is 90th on the prestigious list of the world’s top 100 universities compiled each year by Jiaotong University in Shanghai. Ghent, in 90th place for the second year, is the only Belgian university to make the list. The Times Higher Education listing recently put Leuven above Ghent, while the QS listing saw Ghent overtaken by both Leuven and Antwerp.

A team of students from the Catholic University of Leuven has won fifth place in an international competition to design, build and fly an unmanned aircraft. The plane, christened Fliorelli after the bottle of champagne uncorked after the first successful flight, has a wingspan of 2.4m and weighs 1.75kg, but can carry a payload of 5.6kg. This year’s AirCargo Challenge took place in Stuttgart and involved teams from 27 higher education institutions.