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On 20 June 2023, the F.R.S.-FNRS published the list of winners of the various doctoral and post-doctoral mandates. Among them, 16 researchers from UNamur obtained funding.

The European Euclid satellite will be launched into space from Cape Canaveral in the United States at 5.11pm on Saturday 1 July. The telescope is intended to provide a more accurate map of billions of galaxies over a distance of around twelve billion light years. A team of Belgian scientists and engineers from UCLouvain, ULB, ULg, UNamur and Ghent University, as well as the Space center in Liège (CSL), took part in this ten-year project, bringing together more than 3,500 people from 21 countries.

Physics & Challenges (Physique & Défis in French), a seminar course initiated by Professor Jim Plumat in 2013 at UNamur as part of the PUNCH projects, is organised in the form of a research project. This year, a partnership has been set up with the Haute École de la Province de Namur (HEPN) for a practical systemic training course with an original pedagogical approach.

This summer, Kevin will take up his post as president of the UNamur General Assembly of students (AGE). Aged 22, he is a master's student in physics and knows the Namur campus well. Over the past five years, he has taken on several roles: course delegate, student administrator, member of the AGE bureau, member of the Sciences Review and of a project dormitory, as well as culture and communication delegate. This passionate and creative student wants this new academic year to be all about sharing. Interview.

A cyber-attack occurs every 39 seconds worldwide. And the commercial losses caused by cybercrime are estimated to exceed 5,000 billion dollars by 2024. At a time when the fight against this type of crime represents a fundamental challenge for society, the Master students in Management were challenged to find innovative solutions to raise awareness of cybersecurity among audiences identified as being vulnerable. It was a realistic and ambitious exercise, as the students had to work for a client: DNS Belgium, which administers the .be, .vlaanderen and .brussels domain names. Organised in the form of a challenge, the exercise was supervised by managers from DNS Belgium, IBM and academics from UNamur. Focus on the three winning projects!

In January 2023, an international symposium on organic chemistry was held at UNamur in honour of the 80th birthday of Professor Emeritus Alain Krief. A scientific day with six renowned speakers, including Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Interview.

Created in memory of the founder of the Department of Biology, the Fonds Adrien Bauchau has been promoting excellence in life sciences research since 1989. As it prepares to blow out its 35th birthday candle, the Fund is rolling out new initiatives to promote the development of biology at UNamur.

Characterization of trehalase from Acyrthosiphon pisum for the design of new insecticides SummaryAphids are major pests in agriculture, causing direct damage to plants and acting as vectors for phytopathogenic viruses. Conventional insecticides are widely used to control them, but their toxicity and efficacy pose problems in terms of the environment, human health and the emergence of resistance to these compounds. New alternatives are therefore needed, such as biological control using predators or parasitoids. However, these methods are not always economically viable on a large scale. As part of this thesis, another approach is being explored which involves developing new insecticides targeting the biochemical functions of aphids.The project aims to discover new inhibitors of trehalase, an enzyme essential for insect energy metabolism. Inhibition of this enzyme could disrupt vital insect functions without affecting mammals. This research involved several stages: the purification and complete characterization of trehalase from Acyrthosiphon pisum (the model for this study), the in vivo, in vitro and in silico analysis of commercial inhibitors on this enzyme, before moving on to the search for new inhibitors. Two points of integrated insect management were explored, biological and chemical control.The biological side saw the study of a strain of Streptomyces naturally producing trehalase-inhibiting metabolites, notably validamycin A, a molecule recognized in the literature as one of the best inhibitors, but not applicable as an insecticide. Other molecules appear to have interesting features, but we have not been able to isolate and characterize them.The chemical side has enabled us to create a pharmacophore hypothesis based on experimental results on molecules obtained by virtual screening. Although these molecules are not usable as insecticides as they stand, this hypothesis provides a better understanding of trehalase inhibitors in general and can be used to refine future analyses. JuryProf. Jean-Yves MATROULE (UNamur), presidentDr Catherine MICHAUX (UNamur), promoter and secretaryProf. Frédéric FRANCIS (ULiège), co-promoterProf. André MATAGNE (ULiège)Dr Rudy CAPARROS (ULiège)Dr Morgan HANS (Biocidal)

Essay topic Essays on women's (dis)advantages in access to resources.Composition of the Jury:Prof. Catherine Guirkinger - Promoter (UNamur)Prof. Lorenzo Trimarchi - President of the Jury (UNamur)Prof. Jean-Marie Baland (UNamur)Prof. Jordan Loper (University of Clermont-Ferrand)Prof. Julia Vaillant (World Bank)

Thesis subject Use of BioID within mitochondria: examples with the study of human mitochondrial co-translational import process and with the identification of MPV17 function Summary This thesis was divided into two different parts dedicated to the study of a mitochondrial process and of a mitochondrial protein using a proximity labelling assay called BioID. The first project was dedicated to the study of a poorly characterized process, the mitochondrial co-translational import. In this process, translation is coupled to the translocation of the mitochondrial proteins, alleviating the energy cost typically associated with the post-translational import relying on chaperone systems. However, the mechanisms are still unclear with only few actors identified but none that have been described in mammals yet. We thus profiled endogenously the TOM20 proxisome using BioID. Despite the enrichment of RNA binding proteins in the TOM20 proxisome, we could not demonstrate a role for a selected candidate, LARP4, in the mitochondrial co-translational import process. Nonetheless, additional uses of this BioID cell line were highlighted such as the monitoring of protein entry inside mitochondria and a potential application in the prediction of mitochondrial protein half-life.The second project was dedicated to the study of MPV17, a protein of the inner mitochondrial membrane whose gene is associated with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. However, the exact molecular function of the protein is still unclear. The approach used in this project was to identify the interacting partners of MPV17, using BioID, to get additional clues about the protein function. In this project we demonstrated an interaction of MPV17 with the MICOS complex but the KO of MPV17 didn't impact mitochondria ultrastructure. However, the depletion of MPV17 protein led to increased mitochondria-derived vesicle formation. Therefore, we investigated a potential degradation of the mtDNA as the cause of the mtDNA depletion observed in MPV17 KO cells but, despite a higher mitophagy level in KO cells, the blockade of the lysosomal activity didn't prevent the depletion. Additional in silico analyses suggested a channel activity of MPV17 further supported by its direct interaction with the Cyclophilin D, a protein of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore. Interestingly, MPV17 KO cells also display higher level of mitochondrial calcium which would be related to the degradation of the mtDNA since the blockade of mitochondrial calcium entry prevents the depletion. We thus propose a role of MPV17 as a potential new member of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore whereas in the absence of the protein, the build-up of calcium inside the mitochondria would lead to the observed mtDNA degradation. Jury Prof. Benoît MUYLKENS (UNamur), ChairmanProf. Patsy RENARD (UNamur), Promoter and SecretaryProf. Thierry ARNOULD (UNamur), Co-PromoterProf. Dr. David PLA-MARTIN (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany)Dr. Timothy WAI (Institut Pasteur Paris, France)Prof. David PLA-MARTIN (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany)Dr. Timothy WAI (Institut Pasteur de Paris, France)Prof. Guy LENAERS (Université d'Angers, France)Prof. Sven EYCKERMAN (Universiteit Gent)

On March 24, 2024, the tenth edition of the MT180 competition, a French-language competition for the popularization of science, took place at UNamur. Two physicists and a geographer represented our university at the national final, held in Brussels on May 16.

At the University of Namur, master's students in management engineering have the opportunity to follow an immersion course, taking part in three in-company internships. This is the path followed by Lhorie Pirnay. During her internships, she worked on improving "Hybrid Strategy Maps", a tool designed to help companies optimize their decisions. Backed by a network of influential sponsors, the former student, now a doctoral student, has just obtained the invaluable support of Win4SpinOff funding to develop her project. A first step towards the creation of a spin-off. Read on.