World first: a French-Sign language dictionary
A bilingual French-sign language dictionary (LSFB), which can be queried in both languages, thanks to cutting-edge technology (facial recognition) and access to a vast database compiling more than 4,500 signs, words and expressions.
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Michaël Lobet, the physicist of the invisible who twists light
Let's go and discover the qualified researchers of UNamur, winners of the funding granted by the FNRS in 2022. Today, we meet Michaël Lobet, currently a lecturer at UNamur, who will begin his new mandate as a qualified FNRS researcher at the NISM Institute next fall. The subject of his research: twisted optics for the manipulation of slow photons or how to create light traps. Explanations.
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Carine Michiels receives the ERRS Bacq and Alexander Award
Since 1996, the European Radiation Research Society (ERRS) has awarded the Bacq and Alexander Prize each year to an outstanding European researcher in recognition of the recipient's achievements in the field of radiation research. This year, the award was presented to Professor Carine Michiels, from the University of Namur.
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Lysosome: from protein transport to bone remodelling
The lysosome, a small intracellular organelle, is often represented as the stomach of the cell due to its acidity and the presence of numerous digestive enzymes within it. Its role? The degradation of numerous molecules and their recycling to build new molecules and fuel energy production in the cells. Since 2003, Marielle Boonen has been particularly interested in the lysosome. Together with researchers from UNamur, she has highlighted the role of a lysosomal enzyme called HYAL1 in the bone remodelling process.
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Understanding cell migration to fight cancer
When a tumour develops in an organism, it is very common for the cancer cells to leave the tumour and move to another organ where they proliferate, creating what are known as metastases. This process is an important factor in mortality, as it means that the disease worsens. Hence the interest in better understanding what happens during this phenomenon. This is what the multidisciplinary team of Carine Michiels, researcher at the NARILIS Institute of UNamur, and Davide Bonifazi, researcher at the University of Vienna, did in the framework of the PACMAN research project financed by the FNRS. The results of this study are published in the journal Neoplasia.
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Laurent Houssiau, an FNRS physicist working on dental implants
In the summer of 2022, we set out to discover the UNamur researchers who were awarded funding by the FNRS in 2022. Today, it is Laurent Houssiau, who has been awarded a bilateral collaborative research project funded by the FNRS and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec (FRQ). His project focuses on the design and development of new multifunctional thin overlays that aim to improve the clinical performance of dental implants.
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Alison Forrester enquires about the efficiency of protein production
In the summer of 2022, we set out to discover the qualified researchers at UNamur who were awarded funding by the FNRS in 2022. Today, we meet Alison Forrester, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institut Curie (Paris), who will soon be joining UNamur for her new term as an FNRS qualified researcher at the NARILIS Institute. Her research focuses on studying compounds that could modify the efficiency of the protein production process and thus open up new therapeutic approaches.
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Parchment bindings under the microscope
To restore an old book correctly, it is essential to know the secrets of its manufacture and the reasons for its deterioration. Thanks to the King Baudouin Foundation's Jean-Jacques Comhaire Fund, the restoration workshop of the Moretus Plantin University Library has launched a new research project on parchment bindings in the Southern Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries. The aim is to gain a better understanding in order to improve conservation.
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In Einstein’s footsteps and beyond
An international team of physicists led by Dr Michaël Lobet, lecturer at UNamur, re-examines the foundations of quantum physics from the point of view of momentum in the prestigious journal Nature Light Science & Applications. The researchers investigated what happens when this momentum is reduced to zero. Some interesting things happen! Explanations.
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An ERC Consolidator grant for Professor Guillaume Berionni's B-YOND project!
The ERC CoG, a funding instrument of the European Research Council (ERC), enables outstanding scientists to implement innovative concepts over a period of five years and thus strengthens the European research landscape. The B-YOND project will focus on the reprogramming of chemical elements properties in order to initiate the creation of a new generation of more robust and accessible catalysts.
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Two new projects in framework of the BEWARE Fellowships programme
Thanks to the BEWARE Fellowships programme, the University of Namur will welcome two new post-doctoral students. Within the research institutes naXys and NaDI and in collaboration with the companies CISEO and SAVICS, they will contribute to the development of two projects. The first aims to design an intelligent robot for the pharmaceutical industry, and the second, a secure system for sharing decentralized data.
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Drawing inspiration from nature to innovate
Prof. Olivier Deparis and Dr Sébastien Mouchet (University of Namur, NISM Institute, Department of Physics) have published a book on the theme of physical optics and environmental biology. On the path of Jean-Pol Vigneron’s research, this “avant-garde” book according to Artech House, opens the door to bioinspired applications in the fields of optics, energy and the environment. Explanation.
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