Search results

In late November 2024, UNamur hosted the 23rd BENEVOL Congress, an annual research seminar that provides an opportunity for international researchers to meet and discuss new ideas, important issues and cutting-edge research in the field of software engineering, maintenance and evolution.

Bringing a new drug to market, particularly when it is intended to treat a pediatric or orphan disease, is a journey fraught with pitfalls. The ERAMET project, coordinated by Professor Flora Musuamba Tshinanu, aims to overhaul the assessment procedures, so that regulatory agencies can take innovative technologies into account and thus make more informed choices.

Beautiful victory for Margaux Mignolet, a researcher at the Faculty of Medicine's Unité de Recherche en Physiologie Moléculaire (URPhyM), who wins 1st prize in the Belgian inter-university final of the Ma thèse en 180 secondes (MT180) competition. Her research? To better understand the mechanisms of antibodies active in cases of long COVID. The second prize in this national competition was also won by a candidate from Namur. It was Petra Manja, from the Unité de Recherche en biologie des micro-organismes (URBM), Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, and is pursuing a thesis aimed at understanding resistance mechanisms in the bacterium E. coli. Both are also researchers at the NARILIS Institute.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary liver cancer. Unfortunately, this tumor still has a high mortality rate due to the lack of effective treatments for its most advanced or poorly localized forms. As part of a partnership with the CHU UCL Namur - site de Godinne and with the support of Roche Belgium, researchers in the Department of Biomedical Sciences are trying to understand why liver tumor cells are so resistant to treatment, and to identify therapeutic alternatives to better target them.

The University of Namur (UNamur) and Christian Mutuality (MC) announce a groundbreaking collaboration aimed at better understanding and combating the shortage of general practitioners in rural areas. This partnership is part of the Observatoire Universitaire en Médecine Rurale (OUMRu), launched in 2023 by UNamur.

UNamur was a pioneer in creating, in 2014, an internship in General Medicine, compulsory for all bachelier 3 students. Faced with a growing shortage of general practitioners in several areas of Belgium, the University of Namur is launching a new concrete and ambitious initiative: sending bachelier 3-level trainees to medically under-resourced regions.

"Take care of yourself to better take care of others" - this is the mantra guiding a wellness workshop for second-year medical students as part of the General Psychology course taught by Martin Desseilles, professor at the University of Namur. Taught by Laura Demarthe, psychologist and didactic associate in the Department of Psychology, the workshop aims to equip future doctors with tools to cultivate their physical, mental and social well-being. Professors at UNamur recently conducted a study on this initiative.

Two new Master's degree specializations are on offer from the start of the new academic year. One will provide training in general medicine, the other in the management and economics of sustainable development. Other pedagogical innovations in existing course programs are also proposed, including a course designed to train block students in the challenges of Artificial Intelligence and develop their critical thinking skills to use AI in a relevant way. Through these innovations and new features, UNamur is demonstrating its ability to constantly adapt its educational offering in response to changes in society.

In an ever-changing world, where health, environmental and societal crises are intertwined, it is becoming imperative to rethink health in a global and interconnected approach. It was against this backdrop that the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Namur inaugurated its new "One Health" teaching unit (UE) on Thursday February 06, 2025, in the presence of Minister Yves Coppieters. This initiative, offered to all UNamur undergraduates, aims to train tomorrow's healthcare professionals in a systemic vision, where human, animal and environmental health are considered as one and the same reality.

Thomas Balligand, now a lecturer at UNamur, combines his passion for basic research with teaching in histology and cytology. After a diverse background in internal medicine and research, notably at Harvard, he is dedicated to training the next generation of scientists while pursuing his work on nanobodies and their potential in immunotherapy. His desire to awaken scientific curiosity in his students illuminates his new role at the university..

Since September 2023, Marc Hennequart, Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at UNamur, has been conducting groundbreaking research into pancreatic cancer. His team, based at the Faculty of Medicine and the Institut Narilis, studies the early stages of oncogenesis (the process of transforming a normal cell into a cancerous one) to better understand the metabolic changes behind this particularly aggressive cancer.

As part of the English course given in the first year of science-medicine, students are introduced to the popularization of scientific concepts in the form of videos. This is the "It's not Rocket Science" project, proposed by Natassia Schutz and Aude Hansel, professors at UNamur's School of Modern Languages (ELV). This year's competition prize-giving event featured a highlight: a live audio connection with Donald Pettit, American astronaut, currently aboard the International Space Station.