Six researchers have been awarded doctoral fellowships to begin their doctoral dissertations: Rachel LAURON from the Faculty of Sciences; Océane WATELET, Vera NOVAK, Camille LAMBIET, Alionka WÉRENNE, and Théodore HARDY (who received his grant from ULB under a joint supervision arrangement with UNamur) from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. 

Researchers from Namur also achieved great success in securing research fellow grants. Seven of them received this postdoctoral funding. They are Eleonor CELORA, Nataliya PUCHENKINA, Jérémy ARTRU and Bernardino PITOCCHELLI from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters; Romain MERTENS from the Faculty of Law; and David TALUKDER and François WOITRIN from the Faculty of Economics, Management, and Communication at SciencesPo (EMCP). 

In addition, two permanent F.R.S.-FNRS researchers at UNamur have been promoted to Senior Researcher: Francesca CECCHET and Yves CAUDANO, both members of the Department of Physics and the NISM Institute. 

The Télévie call for proposals also enabled Marc HENNEQUART to secure funding to begin research aimed at identifying the metabolic determinants of the response to arginine deprivation in pancreatic and colorectal cancers. 

Congratulations to them!

This project, called Proteomilk, aims to identify and select the best goats in order to optimize the production of proteins of therapeutic interest, which are then extracted from their milk. 

“These proteins, secreted by the mammary gland, are of major interest. In fact, they can be used to produce monoclonal antibodies, which can treat numerous diseases such as certain cancers, autoimmune diseases, or various types of infections,” explains Fabien Delhalle, a member of the Cell Biology Research Unit at UNamur who is leading the Proteomilk project under the supervision of Patsy Renard.   

Given these limitations, we must therefore develop solutions that are more sustainable, more flexible, and more cost-effective. In other words, we need to find a way to produce these drugs differently.  

And this is precisely the goal of the Proteomilk project, conducted in partnership with Bio-Sourcing, a company specializing in the production of biotherapeutics.

The project aims to identify markers associated with high lactation performance through a detailed proteomic analysis of milk. This method uses the goat’s mammary gland as a natural bioreactor, capable of producing therapeutic proteins in the milk that are then purified. This ultimately reduces costs and environmental impact compared to industrial bioreactors.

This project fully demonstrates the value of collaboration between academia and industry. UNamur contributes its scientific expertise, analytical tools, and ability to explore mechanisms in depth. Field partners, such as Bio-Sourcing and the Walloon Center for Agricultural Research, contribute their applied knowledge, their understanding of production realities, and their vision for commercialization. 

Supported by the SPW Research, this partnership demonstrates how research can be transformed into concrete innovation that benefits society.

Photo: (c) Shutterstock - Craig Cordier

Animal venoms are a remarkable source of molecular diversity. The study of venoms, known as venomomics, enables the identification and characterization of the peptides and proteins that make them up. Optimized by evolution to interact rapidly and selectively with biological targets, some of these peptides could offer new opportunities to better detect, understand, or target cancer cells. 

A project supported by the SPW Research Win4SpinOff program

This is the avenue being explored by the VENOM2 project (Venom-based Exploration for Novel Oncology Molecules), which has just received Win4SpinOff funding, a measure from SPW Research designed to support the maturation of research results with a view to creating spin-off companies in Wallonia.

Targeting the most treatment-resistant cancers

VENOM2 is initially focusing on a refractory cancer for which treatment options remain limited. This choice is based in particular on the growing interest in certain biological targets involved in tumor progression and treatment resistance, which peptides derived from venoms could help to better detect, modulate, or target. 

A joint doctoral thesis between ULiège and UNamur

The project is being conducted under the joint supervision of Professors Loïc Quinton (Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, MolSys / Faculty of Sciences, ULiège) and Jean-Pierre Gillet—in the picture - (Laboratory of Molecular Cancer Biology (LBMC), NARILIS Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, UNamur). It draws on the complementary nature of their respective areas of expertise: on the one hand, mass spectrometry, proteomics, and the detailed analysis of complex biological mixtures such as venoms; on the other hand, the study of mechanisms of cancer resistance to treatments.

The project is led by Lou Freuville, a joint PhD student at MSLab ULiège and LBMC UNamur. In this context, she benefits from the joint supervision of her two advisors to successfully carry out this project.

An approach combining analytical expertise and cancer biology

Specifically, VENOM2 will combine venom fractionation, functional screening on healthy and cancerous cell models, and advanced structural analyses to identify peptides capable of specifically targeting cancer cells or mechanisms involved in tumor progression. The approach thus combines ULiège’s analytical expertise in peptide characterization with UNamur’s expertise in biological and cellular cancer models.

The project’s originality lies in its dual potential for commercialization. Some peptides could be developed as targeting agents for molecular imaging, contributing to more precise diagnosis. Other candidates could have therapeutic potential by selectively modulating key biological pathways in oncology.

“With VENOM2, we aim to transform a biodiversity that remains largely underutilized into opportunities for precision oncology. The Win4SpinOff funding gives us the means to take significant new steps in research and the opportunity to test our ideas in the market. It embodies our commitment to developing innovative therapeutic solutions for cancers resistant to conventional treatments,” emphasize Professors Loïc Quinton and Jean-Pierre Gillet.

Toward a future Walloon spin-off

Beyond its scientific ambition, VENOM2 is part of a dynamic of technology transfer and value creation, laying the groundwork for a future spin-off company specializing in the development of peptides derived from venoms for human health, with the support of the technology transfer teams at ULiège, UNamur, and ULiège’s commercialization and investment company, Gesval. 

“This project lies at the intersection of several areas of expertise: detailed venom analysis, cancer biology, and the development of relevant cellular models. The goal is to identify peptides capable not only of recognizing certain tumor cells, but also of opening new avenues for better understanding and targeting mechanisms involved in cancers resistant to current treatments,” explains Lou Freuville. 

The project was developed with the support of technology transfer teams: Yasmina Zeroual for ULiège, Daniel Maréchal for Gesval, as well as Eléana Somville and Joël Marinozzi for UNamur.

Heritage sciences are experiencing a resurgence at UNamur. This field of research—which involves applying techniques and expertise from the exact sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) to study ancient heritage objects—is reinventing itself thanks to the PHOENIX project, led by seven researchers from the Faculties of Science (Department of Physics) and Philosophy and Letters (Departments of History and Classical Languages and Literatures). 

“PHOENIX emerged from the collaboration of several researchers from different backgrounds, yet all driven by the same desire to study the materiality of heritage objects. One notable figure is Julien Colaux, whose predecessor had led the first heritage science projects at UNamur’s Laboratory of Analysis by Nuclear Reactions (LARN). It’s a sort of return to our roots,” recalls Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani, a researcher in the Department of History, president of the PaTHs Institute, and one of the project’s leaders. 

With PHOENIX, researchers aim to “make” two types of objects speak: ancient coins and medieval parchments (see box). More specifically, their research is guided by three objectives:

• To understand the composition of the artifacts being studied. For the parchments, to identify the animal species (sheep, goat, or calf); and for the coins, to characterize the metal alloy.
• Gain a better understanding of the production and processing workflow. For example, determine which parts of the animal were used in the production of a parchment.
• To propose the most precise dating possible. 

It is in this last objective that the main challenge lies. “We won’t be able to date these objects to within a year,” warns Olivier Deparis, a professor in the Department of Physics and a member of the NISM research institute. “The idea is to provide a time frame that is as precise, if not more so, than that already provided by paleography (the study of ancient scripts) or textual analysis. If we can narrow it down to a quarter-century, that will already be a significant step forward.”

To achieve this, the PHOENIX team uses various non-invasive techniques, in particular infrared and Raman spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and ion beam analysis (IBA). These approaches—which utilize UNamur’s state-of-the-art tools such as the ALTAÏS particle accelerator (see Omalius #36)—provide detailed information on the physicochemical composition of materials, such as the animal origin and ink formulations for parchments or the type of metal alloy for coins. “The use of the exact sciences will enrich our studies and thus allow us to better understand how these objects were produced in the past,” explains Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani. “Contrary to what one might think, collaboration between the humanities and the exact sciences has a long history, dating back to the 19^th century, and even much earlier in the case of coins.”

These tools will make it possible to examine parchments and coins down to the finest detail, at the pixel level. These in-depth analyses therefore generate a colossal volume of raw data to process. This is where artificial intelligence comes into play to speed up the processing and reveal the information “hidden” in the data, identifying major trends invisible to the naked eye. 

Above all, it will provide a boost in meeting the challenge of dating the objects under study. Dated documents, such as charters, will thus be used as references to test the model’s robustness by comparing the results obtained with already known dates. “If the results are convincing, the technique could be applied to undated documents,” says Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani. This would represent a significant breakthrough in historical research.

“The use of machine learning methods is not a panacea,” Olivier Deparis qualifies, however. “We wanted to explore it as an open-ended question to assess its benefits.”

PHOENIX could thus herald a new era for heritage sciences, where artificial intelligence—much like the phoenix after which the project is named—opens up new ways to analyze and understand materials from the past.

• Francesca Cecchet (Department of Physics – NISM and NARILIS Institutes)
• Lucas Baseil (Department of Physics – NISM Institute)
• Julien Colaux (Department of Physics – NISM and PaTHs Institutes)
• Olivier Deparis (Department of Physics – NISM, naXys, and PaTHs Institutes)
• Christophe Flament (Department of Classical Languages and Literatures – PaTHs Institute)
• Louise Fauchier (Department of Classical Languages and Literature – PaTHs Institute)
• Laurent Houssiau (Department of Physics – NISM Institute)
• Alexandre Mayer (Department of Physics – NISM and naXys Institutes)
• Giulia Morabito (Department of Physics – NISM and PaTHs Institutes)
• Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani (Department of History – PaTHs Institute)
• Nicolas Gros (Department of Physics – NISM and PaTHs Institutes)
• Manon Bart (Department of Physics – NISM and naXys Institutes)

The PHOENIX project is funded by the Concerted Research Action (ARC) program from September 2024 to August 2029. It is a continuation of the interdisciplinary Pergamenum21 project, launched in 2014 by the Moretus Plantin University Library (BUMP) under the leadership of Professor Olivier Deparis and dedicated to the scientific study of parchment with a view to improving conservation practices.

Young people from Rochefort showcased the PHOENIX project at the international First Lego League competition, a robotics contest open to students aged 10 to 16. To align with the annual theme focused on new technologies in the field of archaeology, this team from the Rochefort Youth and Culture Center drew inspiration from IBA technology to develop a research game designed to identify the origin of Ancient Greek coins modeled using a 3D printer. Their project caught the jury’s eye and earned them a spot in the national finals, which took place last March. Beyond the competition, this original game will be presented during Family Day at the Malagne Archaeological Park (Rochefort).