This study, published in the scientific journal Contraception, is based on the analysis of over 78,000 adverse event reports extracted from the European pharmacovigilance database "EudraVigilance". The Namur researchers compared the rate of thromboembolic event reporting between different formulations of combined oral contraceptives. The results are clear: contraceptives based on natural estrogens have a thrombosis reporting rate six times lower than pills containing synthetic estrogens (these are the most commonly prescribed).

The results confirm the findings of their previous clinical and biological studies. This study is part of an international drive to promote safer contraceptive alternatives that can reduce the risks associated with oral contraception and improve women's health. "These results reinforce the need for a transition towards safer contraceptive prescribing," says Jonathan Douxfils, Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Research Unit (URPC), a member of the NARILIS Institute and President of QUALIblood, a UNamur spin-off.

Each year, just over 22,000 cases of venous thrombosis or embolism are reported in Europe among users of oral contraceptives. The thrombotic risk reduction associated with natural estrogens could significantly reduce this burden, both in terms of public health and costs to healthcare systems. The study authors encourage health authorities and medical experts to reassess current oral contraceptive recommendations in the light of these new data.

Thanks to state-of-the-art technologies and validated methodologies, QUALIblood guarantees exceptional data integrity and reliability, meeting the strictest industry standards. Its mission is to support healthcare and research players by providing critical information to accelerate medical development and optimize therapeutic outcomes.

By collaborating with QUALIblood, companies and institutions benefit from a scientific partner of excellence, committed to contributing to innovation and continuous improvement in healthcare.

The University of Namur is a key player in pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences research in Belgium and worldwide, with recognized expertise in clinical pharmacology and toxicology. This study illustrates its commitment to improving the safety of medical treatments and promoting clinical practices based on solid evidence.

The latest issue of Belgian Research in Europe magazine devotes several pages to our experts, including a double-page spread to QUALIblood.

While in 2023 Marc Hennequart had already received a Collen Francqui Grant, recently his work has received significant financial support from the Fondation contre le cancer, which has awarded his team a national grant covering four years of research. This funding will enable Marc Hennequart and his collaborators to develop new therapeutic approaches and identify early metabolic biomarkers to improve the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed late, when symptoms appear and the disease is already at an advanced stage. To counter this reality, Professor Hennequart's team is focusing its efforts on the early metabolic changes that occur in pancreatic cells. In particular, the project aims to understand the transition of pancreatic acinar cells into ductal cells, a crucial step leading to cancerous development.

"Established tumors are highly adaptable and resistant to treatment. This is why we are interested in the metabolic vulnerabilities of cancer cells at an early stage, when they are less able to adapt to targeted interventions," explains Marc Hennequart. These studies could pave the way for more effective, less invasive treatments.

To carry out this project, the team is collaborating with Professor Badaoui, a pancreas specialist at Mont-Godinne University Hospital. Together, they will analyze blood and tissue samples to detect early biomarkers, which could enable faster, more accurate diagnosis. "This funding is essential, as it guarantees budget security over four years and enables us to recruit staff to expand our research capabilities," says Professor Hennequart.

This highly competitive national Grant is an important recognition for Marc Hennequart, who joined UNamur after a landmark international career. With a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from UCLouvain and a former researcher at the Francis Crick Institute in London, he brings valuable expertise to the university.

"As a young academic, receiving this support from the Cancer Foundation is a major milestone. It reflects the quality of our work and motivates us to continue our efforts to advance research in Belgium", he concludes.

With this support, UNamur reaffirms its commitment to innovation and the fight against serious diseases such as pancreatic cancer.

Tinea is a skin infection caused by microscopic filamentous fungi that affects both humans and animals. These fungi, dermatophytes, thus disseminate these highly contagious superficial skin mycoses, known as dermatophytoses.

The aim of the TineaDiag project (Tinea for ringworm and Diag for diagnosis) is to identify precise molecular markers in dermatophytes to detect them with sensitivity and certainty, and to identify the most problematic infections such as those caused by antifungal-resistant strains. In this way, those likely to resist curative treatments and/or cause the most serious lesions can be identified, enabling an effective targeted therapeutic strategy to be adopted. The markers identified and validated by the project could then become prime targets for the development of innovative diagnostic techniques and therapeutic strategies, expected on the international market for better management of dermatophytosis skin lesions, both in human patients and animals, and in fine to reduce the incidence of these mycoses.

Legend: Schematic representation of the different stages of dermatophyte skin infection. Histological images of fungal invasion during in vitro infection on reconstructed human epidermis model or in vivo in human patient.

The project aims to extend the expertise of the Coris BioConcept company, already involved in the production of bacterial and viral diagnostic tests in the fungal field, with a particular interest in the veterinary sector.

At UNamur, Professor Yves Poumay and Dr. Émilie Faway work within the NARILIS Institute at the Cells and Tissues Laboratory (LabCeTi) of the Faculty of Medicine's Molecular Physiology Research Unit (UrPhyM). The team is collaborating with Professor Bernard Mignon of the Veterinary Mycology Unit at the University of Liège, who is coordinating this project, with support from the Coris BioConcept company.

• Coris BioConcept
• Narilis and URPhyM
• Unité de Mycologie vétérinaire de l'Université de Liège

With this project, researchers are tackling a real public health issue: the resistance of certain infectious strains to antifungals, the lack of identification, and therefore effective prevention, and the toxicity of certain treatments.

"The project caught the reviewers' attention because it is fully mature and is the fruit of the know-how of an entire team" says Yves Poumay.

The UNamur team:

• Prof Yves Poumay
• Dr Émilie Faway
• Eléa Denil

Professor Yves Poumay has a long-standing interest in epidermal cell growth factors. He joined UNamur as an academic in 1994, continuing the work of Professor Robert Leloup, who had already been cultivating epidermal cells since the 1980s. At the end of the 90s, under the impetus of the European Union, which wanted to reduce and then ban cosmetics testing on laboratory animals, Yves Poumay turned his attention to in vitro epidermal reconstruction, an alternative technique to animal experimentation. Today, his expertise in in vitro epidermis culture is internationally recognized. UNamur is also part of the COST European Network for Skin Engineering and Modeling (NetSkinModels), which enables expertise to be shared with other European teams.

Already in 2014, Professor Yves Poumay began his collaboration with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Professor B. Mignon) at the University of Liège as part of the MycAvert project, a WB Health project funded by the Walloon Region.

This partnership had been initiated by ULiège veterinarians, who wanted to strengthen their research into dermatophytosis. The aim of the study was to evaluate the antifungal potential of specific peptides on dermatophytes. UNamur, with its expertise in the production of cultured human epidermis, acquired know-how in dermatophyte culture during the project and was able to develop an in vitro model of dermatophytosis on epidermis.

This model offers both advantages and limitations: it enables the condition to be studied on human tissue without recourse to living subjects, but remains a simplified model, lacking an immune system. Thus, it was essential to strike a balance between results obtained in vitro in cell culture and those that could be validated under in vivo conditions.

During her PhD thesis, Émilie Faway developed particular expertise in the study of dermatophytes. A new project, entitled MycEpi, was funded as part of SPW Research's Win²WAL program, following on from the MycAvert project. This project was coordinated by UNamur in partnership with Professor B. Mignon of ULiège, supported by StratiCELL (a UNamur spin-off - https://straticell.com/). Together, they proposed to validate the in vitro model through data collected on in vivo model. The results were published notably in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, laying the foundations for the new TineaDiag project.

The "research credits and projects" call resulted in 14 grants for ambitious new projects. These include two "equipment" grants, five "research credits (CDR)" grants and seven "research projects (PDR)" grants, including one in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland. The FRIA doctoral research support call will fund 6 doctoral fellowships.

A prestigious Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS) has also been obtained. This 3-year funding supports young permanent researchers wishing to develop an original and innovative research program while acquiring scientific autonomy within their department.

Call for Equipment

• Max Collinet, Institut ILEE
• Catherine Michaux, with Stéphane Vincent and Guillaume Berionni, co-sponsors, Institut NISM

Call for Research Credits (CDR)

• Thierry Arnould, Institut NARILIS
• Thomas Balligand, Department of Medicine
• Danielle Leenaerts, Institut PaTHs
• Denis Saint-Amand, Institut NaLTT
• Elio Tuci, Institut NADI

Appel Projets de Recherche (PDR)

• Nathalie Burnay, in collaboration with "the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland", Institut Transitions (Subject to acceptance by SNSF Switzerland)
• Catherine Guirkinger, Institut DEFIPP, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain
• Luca Fusaro, Institut NISM
• Laurence Meurant, Institut NaLTT
• René Preys, Institut PaTHs
• Stéphane Vincent, Institut NISM, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain
• Johan Wouters, Institut NISM, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain

Fonds pour la formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA)

• Alix Buridant - Promoter: Henri-François Renard, Institut NARILIS ; Co-sponsor: Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck - Austria -
• Constance De Maere d'Aertrycke - Promoter Nicolas Gillet, Institut NARILIS
• Noah Deveaux - Promoter: Benoît Champagne, Institut NISM
• Nicolas Dricot - Promoter: Muriel Lepère, Institut NISM; Co-promoter: Bastien Vispoel, Institut NISM and Université Grenoble Alpes
• Laurie Marchal - Promoter Thierry Arnould. Co-promoter: Patricia Renard. Institut NARILIS
• Léa Poskin - Promoter: Catherine Michaux, Institut NISM; Co-promoter: Jean-Pierre Gillet, Institut NARILIS

Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS)

• Arthur Borriello, Institut Transitions

Congratulations to all and sundry

The mission of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS is to develop basic scientific research through initiatives presented by researchers. It promotes the production and development of knowledge by supporting individual researchers on the one hand, and by financing research programs carried out in laboratories and departments located mainly in the universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation on the other.

Based on the sole criterion of scientific excellence, financial support from the F.R.S.-FNRS is provided in several ways. Numerous calls for funding are launched each year to support fundamental research at all levels of researchers' careers.