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At the end of January 2023, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) returned a real treasure to Belgium: a medieval charter bearing the seal of the Count of Flanders Philippe d'Alsace, formerly kept in the abbey of Messines (West Flanders), which had disappeared at the beginning of the First World War. A look back at the tribulations of this archival document, the restitution of which is the result of a fruitful collaboration between the PraME Centre of UNamur, the General Archives of the Kingdom and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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.

The Department of Art History and Archaeology of UNamur is participating for the first time in an experimental archaeology project, within the framework of a doctoral thesis on the production of glass in the Roman period. Conducted in partnership with Malagne, the Rochefort archaeopark, the Specularia project aims to gain a better understanding of the reality of the gestures and techniques of Gallo-Roman craftsmen and to scientifically validate hypotheses that are still debated today. To carry out this experiment, the Department of Art History and Archaeology is launching its first participatory funding.

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.

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.

With its expertise in the field of geology and biodiversity conservation, the UNamur is one of the partners of the new Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse National Park designated by the Walloon Government. Alongside the other actors and promoters of the project, the UNamur will make its knowledge and experience available to enhance and preserve this exceptional natural heritage!

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.

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.

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.

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.

One of the major concerns with the disease caused by Covid-19 is its severe course, which causes many problems that can lead to hospital overload. Early detection of whether or not a person is at risk of developing a severe form of the disease is therefore crucial to optimise patient care and hospital resource management. This is one of the objectives of the study carried out by QUALIblood, a UNamur spin-off, in collaboration with the Department of Pharmacy and many other industrial and hospital partners. Exploration of a cutting-edge technology at the service of health.

Katrien Beuls is undoubtedly a fine example of the growing number of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers. After a rather literary career, guided by her curiosity, she began studying computer science and became interested in computational methods for processing human language with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).