Long COVID remains difficult to diagnose and treat, particularly in Belgium. A recent report estimated that this hidden epidemic will impose an annual societal cost of tens of billions of euros on OECD member countries. In the absence of clear biomarkers, many practitioners still sometimes mistakenly attribute some of the symptoms to psychosomatic causes. Since 2022, the team led by Prof. Charles Nicaise (Molecular Physiology Research Unit - Namur Research Institute for Life Sciences (NARILIS) - UNamur), notably through the work of Margaux Mignolet, a FRIA researcher and PhD student, has been exploring the hypothesis of immune dysregulation occurring during acute infection and leading to the production of autoantibodies directed against components of the nervous system.

Thirteen patients whose symptoms were consistent with long neurological COVID and were confirmed by tests assessing their cognitive and pain-related complaints were included in this study. 

After collecting blood samples, the researchers isolated the patients’ immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies and studied their effects in a passive transfer mouse model at Professor Charles Nicaise’s LNR laboratory. The animals underwent a battery of behavioural tests assessing, in particular, pain sensitivity thresholds, as well as other cognitive, anxiety, or depressive disorders.

• IgG transfer and pain: After transfer of IgG from patients, mice develop painful hypersensitivity, specifically mechanical allodynia—meaning that a tactile stimulus that is usually painless becomes painful—as well as thermal hyperalgesia—meaning that an uncomfortable hot or cold stimulus becomes very painful.
• Specificity of the effect: the transfer of these IgG to laboratory mice does not induce cognitive (e.g., memory), anxiety, or depressive disorders, suggesting distinct mechanisms depending on the symptoms.
• Proof of causality: when the antibodies are destroyed before injection, or when serum from which IgG has been removed is injected, the painful effect disappears.
• Target of autoantibodies: IgG binds to the spinal ganglia along the spinal column, structures containing sensory neurons that relay information, for example, between the skin and the brain. Autoantibodies recognize peripheral neurons involved in pain (nociception) and the perception of body position or deep sensation (proprioception).

Left: Mouse ganglion (a structure located along the spine). Green indicates sensory neurons; red indicates antibodies from long-COVID patients; yellow indicates the colocalization of neurons and antibodies. This demonstrates that the patients’ antibodies target sensory neurons.  

Right: Human ganglion to which antibodies from long-COVID patients were applied to verify whether binding to sensory neurons occurs as in mice. In blue, cell nuclei; in red, antibodies from long-COVID patients, proving that antibodies from long-COVID patients bind to human sensory neurons. 

“We are the second group in the world, following UMC Utrecht just a few weeks ago, to demonstrate that painful symptoms in long-COVID patients are mediated by an autoimmune reaction, based on the presence of immunoglobulin G-type autoantibodies,” summarizes Prof. Charles Nicaise. 

Other studies conducted independently at Yale University and King’s College London are currently undergoing peer review and appear to support these findings. 

These findings help to provide scientific evidence for some aspects of long COVID by establishing a biological basis for the pain component. They open up therapeutic avenues aimed at identifying and then eliminating circulating pathogenic autoantibodies—for example, through plasmapheresis (plasma filtration) or targeted therapies based on anti-autoantibodies. The study suggests, however, that the frequently reported cognitive impairments may stem from other mechanisms that have yet to be elucidated.

• Charles Nicaise, URPhyM, NARILIS, UNamur
• Margaux Mignolet, URPhyM, NARILIS, UNamur
• Catherine Deroux, Memory Clinic, UCL Namur University Hospital (Godinne campus)
• Prof. Pierre Bulpa, Intensive Care, CHU UCL Namur (Godinne site)

As well as all the staff, doctors, virologists, students, laboratory technicians, patients, and volunteers whom the team thanks for their dedication.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a human tragedy that has claimed millions of lives worldwide and placed our entire society under immense strain. But it has also been a powerful collective experience for many scientists at UNamur, whose research continues in an effort to better understand this disease and its consequences.

Read our article: Covid-19, Five Years On: A Look Back at UNamur’s Major Role in Addressing the Pandemic

Giacomo Lopopolo is studying the effects of oxidative stress caused by radiation therapy and the damage it inflicts on cellular mitochondria, particularly in the treatment of lung cancer. Objective: to determine the necessary doses in treatment plans for conventional radiotherapy or proton therapy to ensure effective treatment while improving the patient’s quality of life. This interdisciplinary project also benefits from the expertise of Professor Thierry Arnould, co-supervisor (URBC). 

For her part, Keïla Openge-Navenge is attempting to decipher the mechanisms of radiation resistance at work in breast, lung, and colorectal cancers, and in particular the role of lipid metabolism, ferroptosis, and mitochondria within cancer cells. 

Jade Nichols, who has just joined UNamur, is launching a Télévie project to understand the response of macrophages—which play an essential role in shaping the tumor microenvironment—to ultra-high-dose-rate (UHDR) radiation, a phenomenon that has not yet been explored and whose results could eventually help optimize treatment strategies that leverage both radiation and the patient’s own immune responses.

Inès Bourriez focuses her research on skin cancers, which account for 40% of all cancers diagnosed today. She is interested in the impact of skin aging and the accumulation of so-called senescent cells on tumor development and progression. 

Understanding how cells react to radiation is also the focus of projects led by Emma Lambert, on the one hand, and Manon Van Den Abbeel, on the other, through a collaboration with Anne-Catherine Heuskin at LARN. Manon Van Den Abbeel is studying the irradiation conditions that induce the strongest possible immune response to circumvent the various immunosuppressive mechanisms developed within tumors, thereby enhancing the immunogenicity of tumors and thus their recognition and destruction by the immune system. 

Emma Lambert, meanwhile, is launching a project on glioblastoma, an aggressive and currently incurable brain tumor, to better understand the resistance mechanisms that develop during combination treatments using chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or proton therapy. 

As for Eloïse Rapport, she is interested in a third form of radiation therapy, using alpha particles—that is, ionized helium atoms—to increase the death of cancer cells within tumors. In particular, she is studying the different forms of induced cell death and their potential immunogenicity. 

Pancreatic cancer, particularly pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), remains one of the deadliest cancers, with a five-year survival rate of only 13%. Because the disease is often asymptomatic in its early stages, it is frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage. This situation, coupled with the lack of effective treatments and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment that limits the efficacy of immunotherapies, explains the poor prognosis of PDAC. Early detection of this type of cancer is therefore crucial, but current diagnostic tools have limited sensitivity and specificity. 

As it has done every year for the past 23 years, the UNamur community is organizing a series of events to raise funds for the Télévie campaign. In 2026, students have been particularly active through three initiatives.

On March 12, the Student General Assembly brought the house down at the Arsenal during the second edition of the Grand Blind Test at UNamur. It was a fun-filled evening that brought together some thirty teams of staff and students to compete on the biggest hits of the past 30 years, and, thanks to the support of sponsors, raised €6,338.91. 

Finally, the Namur Computer Club dedicated its 24-hour charity livestream on the Twitch platform. Over the course of the hours, and thanks to the generosity, activities, and challenges taken on by the Club’s members, a generous sum of €1,831.91 was donated to Télévie. 

Well done to everyone! 

This PUNCh project, led by Hélène Givron, associate professor and educational coordinator in the Department of Psychology at the University of Namur, is designed to address educational needs in interprofessional training. The goal was to develop a fun, flexible tool that could be adapted for use in various contexts, in order to address a significant challenge in the field. 

The main objective of this workshop was to strengthen interprofessional communication and collaboration in the healthcare field. A multidisciplinary team was therefore formed, composed of representatives from various sectors: Catherine Magnette (Instructor, Department of Medicine), Romain Siriez (Educational Coordinator, Department of Pharmacy), and Laura Demarthe (Assistant, Department of Psychology), to bring together students from the Master’s in General Practice and the Master’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences at UNamur, as well as the Master’s in Nursing (Hénallux), to address these issues.

This educational tool draws on various skills essential to teamwork, such as active listening, the ability to clearly articulate ideas, task coordination, and collective decision-making. Each puzzle presented a challenge that required genuine cooperation among group members, as no solution could be found by working alone. 

Following the game phase, a debriefing session was held with all participants. This discussion aimed to reflect on the experience gained during the workshop and to encourage students to think about the concepts of collaboration and interprofessional communication in the healthcare context. The game served as a tool to illustrate certain cooperative scenarios, but also to highlight challenges related to coordination and information sharing. The debriefing thus facilitated a dialogue among students from different programs regarding the barriers and enablers of effective communication. Participants had the opportunity to share their feelings, compare their perspectives, and discuss strategies to promote better collaboration among healthcare professionals. 

The educational objectives of the workshop were clearly defined:

• Address the skills necessary for interprofessional collaboration, such as communication and collective decision-making.
• Identify the drivers and barriers to interprofessional collaboration.
• Contribute to improving the quality and safety of care through better coordination among professionals.

“I hope this experience will lead to a change in practice. The game gives you the tools to assert yourself, especially as a young doctor when you have to integrate into teams with more experienced colleagues. It helps you stand your ground and build self-confidence.” — Yorick, medical student 

“Based on the information we received, we expected an activity with exclusively ‘medical’ content. This unique experience takes us beyond the scope of typical role-playing scenarios.” - Margaux, medical student 

“I found this workshop to be very useful; it adds value and is very interesting. We never have simulations focused on collaboration. It would be interesting to incorporate this into the curriculum.” – Nursing student

This was a first for UNamur: for the first time, several residents of Château Vert made the trip to the Faculty of Medicine to meet students enrolled in the Master's program specializing in general medicine. The trip required a significant investment of time and energy on the part of the Château Vert teams and residents. "The residents made the effort to come to us. It is a rare gift to be able to talk directly with patients and their caregivers," says Catherine Magnette, general practitioner and organizer of the day. "Who better than the patient themselves, and possibly their close caregiver, can express their expectations of their general practitioner? It is about putting the patient back at the center by giving them a voice," she continues.

The day was structured around three workshops, offered as part of the academic curriculum for the Master's degree specializing in general medicine:

• "Dys" disorders
  : Understanding learning and communication difficulties and adapting medical practices.
• The specificities of medical care for people with disabilities
  To better understand patients' vulnerabilities and skills in order to individualize care. Certain pathologies or medical issues are specific to these patients and are rarely addressed in the basic curriculum.
• Meeting with the residents of Château Vert and their caregivers
  A moment of direct exchange, where students were able to ask questions, listen to life experiences, and hear what patients expect—or fear—in a medical consultation.

"What I expect from a doctor is that they put themselves in my shoes and understand my pain, even if I can't always express it very precisely." - Christelle, resident at Château Vert. 

"It's really important for doctors to be able to put themselves in their patients' shoes. For example, with my son, explaining the medical tests he's going to have to undergo by miming them beforehand on his cuddly toy is an approach that really works. It reassures him." - Audrey, mother of Arthur (9), resident at Château Vert. 

After hearing these testimonials, the students were able to ask questions and talk with the residents, their caregivers, and the supervisory teams. 

The educational objectives of this day were therefore multiple:

• Identify the medical, relational, and social specificities related to disability;
• Use this knowledge to improve patient care;
• To understand the role of those who support people with specific needs;
• Develop a patient-centered, respectful, and collaborative care model.