The Biomedical Research Institute (Biomedisch Onderzoeksinstituut; BIOMED) was founded on 1 January 1999 to combine the expertise of the former Dr. L. Willems-Instituut with the Medical faculty of the University of Hasselt (Belgium). The institute is located in Diepenbeek, Belgium.
The research topics of the institute are auto-immune disorders, e.g. multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, and the more general pathophysiological mechanisms of cell-damage and cell-death, such as cytokines, toxins and ischemia.