This award recognizes young Belgian scientists whose work makes a significant contribution to the advancement of medicine and the biomedical sciences. 

Above all, this designation represents recognition of our scientific, academic, and societal commitment to the field of health. Through our respective careers, we share a common desire to contribute, through research, teaching, and interdisciplinary dialogue, to a better understanding of public health issues and, more broadly, to improving the health of the population.

- Charlotte Beaudart and Jonathan Douxfils

“This designation is also important because it allows us to engage in a space for reflection that goes beyond the usual institutional frameworks,” adds Jonathan Douxfils.

 The College indeed offers a valuable opportunity to collaborate with researchers from other universities, other disciplines, and other generations of scientists. 

“In a context where medical, scientific, and societal challenges are becoming increasingly complex, this cross-disciplinary and transgenerational approach seems essential to us for fostering collective intelligence, serving the Academy, the scientific community, and society,” he continues. 

Within this College, Charlotte Beaudart and Jonathan Douxfils will contribute their expertise in their respective fields (clinical pharmacology and toxicology, as well as aging), fostering a culture of collegiality, knowledge sharing, and collaboration. 

“Our ambition is to help develop initiatives that bridge the gaps between basic research, clinical research, public health, and innovation, while fostering a scientific culture grounded in rigor, openness, cooperation, and service to the common good,” they conclude. 

The European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, and Musculoskeletal Diseases (ESCEO) and the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) have also recently awarded him the 2026 ESCEO-IOF Pierre Meunier Prize (https://www.osteoporosis.foundation/news/charlotte-beaudart-receives-prestigious-esceo-iof-pierre-meunier-young-scientist-award) for the young scientist. This prestigious annual award was presented in April 2026 during the WCO-IOF-ESCEO Congress in Prague. 

Charlotte Beaudart’s work focuses on aging and, more specifically, on sarcopenia, a condition characterized by the loss of muscle mass and function in older adults. Through her research, Charlotte Beaudart has made a significant contribution to a better understanding of this condition, notably through the development of the SarcoPhAge cohort (for Sarcopenia and Physical Impairments with advancing Age), a Belgian cohort comprising more than 500 individuals over the age of 65 who were prospectively followed for 10 years, and the creation of the SarQoL questionnaire, now used internationally to assess the quality of life of patients with sarcopenia.

Since 2023, he has headed a research unit in clinical pharmacology and toxicology, comprising seven faculty members and about ten doctoral students. Professor Douxfils collaborates with numerous researchers in the industrial, hospital, and academic sectors to develop precise and sensitive biomarkers in hemostasis, serology, oncology, and, more recently, neurology. He has secured significant funding for his research in thrombosis, hemostasis, infectious diseases, oncology, and gene therapies. His multidisciplinary approach and expertise in blood biomarkers enable him to work on interconnected projects. He has also served as a pharmacovigilance expert at the European Medicines Agency as an evaluator, co-chairs the SSC Control of Anticoagulation at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), and is a member of the Haemostasis Diagnostics expert team at ECAT as well as the Belgian Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis (BSTH). He coordinates the recommendations of the International Council for Standardization in Hematology (ICSH) on the measurement of direct oral anticoagulants and is an associate editor for several scientific journals.

At the initiative of its Permanent Secretary, Georges Casimir, the Academy sought to establish a College of Young Researchers with which it collaborates in a structured and regular manner. It serves as an advisory and forward-looking body for the Academy.
Its mission is:

1. to attract and engage young researchers in the scientific and academic life of the ARMB;
2. to foster reflection on current and future challenges in basic, translational, and clinical (bio)medical research;
3. to serve as a crucible of ideas and proposals for the ARMB’s Executive Board, Sections, and Committees;
4. to organize, in collaboration with the Academy, at least one annual scientific session dedicated to young researchers.

The College consists of 36 full members, with six members per ARMB Section; the Executive Board may propose up to four additional full members to bring the total to 40. Members must be under 46 years of age as of December 31 of the year of their appointment and must have held a master’s degree for at least 11 years.

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! 

During this mission, UNamur highlighted its expertise in vaccinology, infectious diseases, and pandemic preparedness, particularly during sessions focused on health crisis management and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

She also contributed to the discussion on two key issues: “On the one hand, the role of the humanities and social sciences and their importance in a ‘comprehensive’ university model capable not only of offering a holistic understanding and practical solutions to current challenges, but also of preparing for a future that will require the development of a creative vision of humanity,” explains Annick Castiaux. “And secondly, on the impacts of AI in research: both the incredible opportunities these technologies offer in a growing number of fields and the challenges of maintaining control over their use—both to avoid confining ourselves to conventional or biased paths and to protect the intellectual property of our researchers and our regions in a tense geopolitical context.”
  

The mission aimed to increase UNamur’s international visibility, showcase its scientific expertise, expand its network of partners, and strengthen existing collaborations with Norway. It is fully aligned with the University of Namur’s international strategy and its commitment to actively contributing to addressing major challenges in health, innovation, and sustainability at the European level.