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From its formal appearance in the 3rd year of general secondary education in FW-B, the chemistry course takes the form of a program detailing a series of contents to be taught. Within the framework of an internal didactic transposition specific to their activity, teachers are led to estimate their relative importance in the curriculum and to transform them. In the midst of a pandemic or following a prolonged absence, what content will teachers retain, adapt or delete?This research project proposes to study this prioritization of the content to be taught in the chemistry course by the teaching staff. More specifically, this paper focuses on the construction and analysis of a questionnaire investigating the organization of the main chapters (UAA) by chemistry teachers.

The F.R.S.-FNRS has just published the results of its various 2024 calls. Equipment calls, research credits and projects, FRIA doctoral grants and Mandant d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS), there are many instruments to support fundamental research. Find out more about UNamur's results.

On the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science proclaimed on February 11 by the United Nations General Assembly, and as part of the European alliance European Space University for Earth and Humanity (UNIVERSEH) focusing on the theme of space, discover the testimonies of four women scientists from UNamur working on astronomical themes.

In an ever-changing world, where health, environmental and societal crises are intertwined, it is becoming imperative to rethink health in a global and interconnected approach. It was against this backdrop that the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Namur inaugurated its new "One Health" teaching unit (UE) on Thursday February 06, 2025, in the presence of Minister Yves Coppieters. This initiative, offered to all UNamur undergraduates, aims to train tomorrow's healthcare professionals in a systemic vision, where human, animal and environmental health are considered as one and the same reality.

Helping us to age independently and in good health. This is the aim of Charlotte Beaudart's research into sarcopenia, an age-related disease that can occur as early as the age of 50. The work of the UNamur researcher and member of the Narilis Institute has been rewarded once again, as she has just been awarded the title of "Namuroise of the Year", for the Sciences category!

A new platform dedicated to research in the humanities and social sciences (SHS) is being launched at UNamur. The aim? To offer SHS researchers methodological support tailored to their needs and strengthen SHS excellence at UNamur. This platform, SHS Impulse, will provide various services such as financial support for training, consultancy, access to resources, or co-financed software purchases.

Beautiful victory for Margaux Mignolet, a researcher at the Faculty of Medicine's Unité de Recherche en Physiologie Moléculaire (URPhyM), who wins 1st prize in the Belgian inter-university final of the Ma thèse en 180 secondes (MT180) competition. Her research? To better understand the mechanisms of antibodies active in cases of long COVID. The second prize in this national competition was also won by a candidate from Namur. It was Petra Manja, from the Unité de Recherche en biologie des micro-organismes (URBM), Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, and is pursuing a thesis aimed at understanding resistance mechanisms in the bacterium E. coli. Both are also researchers at the NARILIS Institute.

Abstract Radiotherapy is a cornerstone of cancer treatment and is currently administered to approximately half of all cancer patients. However, the cytotoxic effects of ionizing radiation on normal tissues represent a major limitation, as they restrict the dose that can be safely delivered to patients and, consequently, reduce the likelihood of effective tumor control. In this context, delivering radiation at ultra-high dose rates (UHDR, > 40 Gy/s) is gaining increasing attention due to its potential to spare healthy tissues surrounding the tumor and to prevent radiation-induced side effects, as compared to conventional dose rates (CONV, on the order of Gy/min).The mechanism underlying this protective effect-termed the FLASH effect-remains elusive, driving intensive research to elucidate the biological processes triggered by this type of irradiation.In vitro models offer a valuable tool to support this research, allowing for the efficient screening of various beam parameters and biological responses in a time- and cost-effective manner. In this study, multicellular tumor spheroids and normal cells were exposed to proton irradiation at UHDR to evaluate its efficacy in controlling tumor growth and its cytotoxic impact on healthy tissues, respectively.We report that UHDR and CONV irradiation induced a comparable growth delay in 3D tumor spheroids, suggesting similar efficacy in tumor control. In normal cells, both dose rates induced similar levels of senescence; however, UHDR irradiation led to lower apoptosis induction at clinically relevant doses and early time points post-irradiation.Taken together, these findings further highlight the potential of UHDR irradiation to modulate the response of normal tissues while maintaining comparable tumor control.JuryProf. Thomas BALLIGAND (UNamur), PresidentProf. Stéphane LUCAS (UNamur), SecretaryProf. Carine MICHIELS (UNamur)Dr Sébastien PENNINCKX (Hôpital Universitaire de Bruxelles)Prof. Cristian FERNANDEZ (University of Bern)Dr Rudi LABARBE (IBA)

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary liver cancer. Unfortunately, this tumor still has a high mortality rate due to the lack of effective treatments for its most advanced or poorly localized forms. As part of a partnership with the CHU UCL Namur - site de Godinne and with the support of Roche Belgium, researchers in the Department of Biomedical Sciences are trying to understand why liver tumor cells are so resistant to treatment, and to identify therapeutic alternatives to better target them.

Researchers at the Universities of Namur (UNamur), Brussels (ULB) and Liège (ULiège) have just taken a key step towards understanding viral mechanisms. Their study, published in the international scientific journal PLOS Pathogens, focuses on a particular type of molecule produced by viruses, circular RNAs, and presents an innovative bioinformatics tool capable of better identifying them.

Abstract Primarily described as an alarmone, secondary messenger (p)ppGpp, when accumulated, binds to many targets involved in DNA replication, translation, and transcription. In the asymmetrically-dividing a-proteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus, (p)ppGpp has been shown to strongly impact cell cycle progression and differentiation, promoting the non-replicating G1/swarmer phase. Mutations in the major subunits of transcriptional complex, b or b' subunits, were able to display the (p)ppGpp-related phenotypes even in the absence of the alarmone. We identified that the transcriptional holo-enzyme, RNA polymerase (RNAP) is a primary target of (p)ppGpp in C. crescentus. Furthermore, mutations that inactivate (p)ppGpp binding to RNAP annihilated the (p)ppGpp-related phenotypes and phenocopied a (p)ppGpp0 strain. Our RNAseq analysis further elucidated the changes in the transcriptional landscape of C. crescentus cells displaying different (p)ppGpp levels and expressing RNAP mutants. Since the DNA replication initiation protein DnaA is required to exit the G1 phase, we observed that it was significantly less abundant in cells accumulating (p)ppGpp. We further explored its proteolysis under the influence of (p)ppGpp. Our work suggests that (p)ppGpp regulates cell cycle and differentiation in C. crescentus by reprogramming transcription and triggering proteolytic degradation of key cell cycle regulators by yet unknown mechanisms. In Part II, we identified two σ factors belonging to the ECF family that might be involved in this (p)ppGpp-accompanied phenotypes. In Part III, we propose an overlapping role of the ω subunit, RpoZ, and the heat shock subunit, RpoH, in carbon metabolism.JuryProf. Gipsi LIMA MENDEZ (UNamur), PresidentProf Régis HALLEZ (UNamur), SecretaryDr Emanuele BIONDI (CNRS-Université Paris-Saclay)Prof. Justine COLLIER (University of Lausanne)Dr Marie DELABY (Université de Montréal)