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Researchers at ULiège and UNamur are developing a new electrochromic material: MoWOx.

An international research team led by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences has uncovered how pharmaceutical pollution alters the behaviour and migration patterns of Atlantic salmon in nature. Professor Eli Thoré, from the Department of Biology and the ILEE research institute at the University of Namur, contributed to this groundbreaking field study, which has just been published in Science.

The 24th edition of Printemps des Sciences was held from March 24 to 30 throughout Wallonia and Brussels, on the theme of "Eau-rêka". The aim of this annual event is to make science and technology accessible to as many people as possible. Mission accomplished for this new edition!

The 11th edition of the Ma Thèse en 180 secondes competition was held this Friday, March 28, 2025 at the Faculty of Science. Three biologists will represent UNamur at the Belgian final, to be held in Mons on May 21.

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.

For several years now, researchers have been striving to make their laboratories "greener". A series of actions have been implemented, funded by the CaNDLE 2023 call for projects have been supported by the Department of Biology at the initiative of Alison Forrester and Frédéric Silvestre, the project leaders, as well as by Campus Infrastructure Management Services (SIGeC) and Prevention Services (SerP). In March 2025, a Green Day was held to provide information on the project's progress, and to motivate people to join the initiative.  

A practical training course in computational quantum chemistry was organized from May 26 to 30, 2025 as part of an ERASMUS+ collaboration between the University of Sfax and the University of Namur. This inter-university training course for PhD students in chemistry and physics from the Tunisian University brought together more than 20 students.

High-Sensitivity Birefringence Mapping Using Near-Circularly Polarized Light I will describe several techniques for mapping a two-dimensional birefringence distribution, which can be classified according to the optical schemes and principles of work:Illumination geometry (transmitted light/reflected light)Image acquisition (sequential acquisition/simultaneous acquisition)Polarization control (electrically controlled variable retardance/mechanical rotation).This classification facilitates a comparative analysis of the capabilities and limitations in these methods for birefringence characterization. Polychromatic polarizing microscopy (PPM) provides unique capabilities to alternative methods. It leverages vector interference to generate vivid, full-spectrum colors at extremely low retardances, down to < 10 nm. PPM is a significant departure from conventional polarizing microscopes that rely on Newton interference, which requires retardances above 400 nm for color formation. Furthermore, PPM's color output directly reflects the orientation of the birefringent material, a feature absent in conventional microscopy where color is solely determined by retardance.Joint seminar of ILEE & NISM!The seminar is open to external people too, no need to register. More info

Abstract Radiotherapy is a cornerstone of cancer treatment and is currently administered to approximately half of all cancer patients. However, the cytotoxic effects of ionizing radiation on normal tissues represent a major limitation, as they restrict the dose that can be safely delivered to patients and, consequently, reduce the likelihood of effective tumor control. In this context, delivering radiation at ultra-high dose rates (UHDR, > 40 Gy/s) is gaining increasing attention due to its potential to spare healthy tissues surrounding the tumor and to prevent radiation-induced side effects, as compared to conventional dose rates (CONV, on the order of Gy/min).The mechanism underlying this protective effect-termed the FLASH effect-remains elusive, driving intensive research to elucidate the biological processes triggered by this type of irradiation.In vitro models offer a valuable tool to support this research, allowing for the efficient screening of various beam parameters and biological responses in a time- and cost-effective manner. In this study, multicellular tumor spheroids and normal cells were exposed to proton irradiation at UHDR to evaluate its efficacy in controlling tumor growth and its cytotoxic impact on healthy tissues, respectively.We report that UHDR and CONV irradiation induced a comparable growth delay in 3D tumor spheroids, suggesting similar efficacy in tumor control. In normal cells, both dose rates induced similar levels of senescence; however, UHDR irradiation led to lower apoptosis induction at clinically relevant doses and early time points post-irradiation.Taken together, these findings further highlight the potential of UHDR irradiation to modulate the response of normal tissues while maintaining comparable tumor control.JuryProf. Thomas BALLIGAND (UNamur), PresidentProf. Stéphane LUCAS (UNamur), SecretaryProf. Carine MICHIELS (UNamur)Dr Sébastien PENNINCKX (Hôpital Universitaire de Bruxelles)Prof. Cristian FERNANDEZ (University of Bern)Dr Rudi LABARBE (IBA)

Welcome to the 1ʳᵉ MG-ERC conference This conference, linked to the research themes of the Chemistry Department, aims to bring together around 100 researchers working in the fields of heteroatom chemistry, coordination chemistry, catalysis, and inorganic chemistry. It represents a real novelty in Belgium in terms of the areas covered, and will enable participants to discover new concepts, ideas and trends in these recent areas of research in chemistry. Here is the list of speakers, who are world experts in their fieldsDr. Daniël Broere (Utrecht University, Netherlands)Prof. Agnieszka Nowak-Król (Universität Würzburg, Germany)Dr. Antoine Simonneau (Université Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France)Prof. Dr. Sebastian Riedel (Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany)Dr. Arnaud Voituriez (Université Paris-Saclay, France)Prof. Dr. Alessandro Bismuto (Universität Bonn, Germany)Dr. Christian Hering-Junghans (Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse, Germany)Prof. Connie Lu (Universität Bonn, Germany)Prof. Simon Aldridge (University of Oxford, UK)Dr. Ghenwa Bouhadir (Université Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France)Prof. Dr. Viktoria Däschlein (Universität Bonn, Germany)Prof. Viktoria Däschlein-Gessner (Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany)Dr. Jennifer A. Garden (University of Edinburgh, UK)Prof. Muriel Hissler (Université de Rennes, France)Prof. Jean-François Paquin (Université de Laval, Canada) More information and registration

Something for everyone 09:30 | Welcome ceremony for new students11:00 | Back-to-school celebration at Saint-Aubain Cathedral (Place Saint-Aubain - 5000 Namur), followed by student welcome by the Cercles. Read more

Every two years, the International Symposium on Marek's Disease and Avian Herpesviruses (MDAH) brings together researchers from around the world to exchange the latest insights on poultry viral diseases - covering their biology, evolution, control strategies, and epidemiology. Attendees include PhD students, postdocs and researchers representing academia, government, and commercial organizations from North and South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Africa. More information on the MDAH2026 website