Alison Forrester enquires about the efficiency of protein production
In the summer of 2022, we set out to discover the qualified researchers at UNamur who were awarded funding by the FNRS in 2022. Today, we meet Alison Forrester, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institut Curie (Paris), who will soon be joining UNamur for her new term as an FNRS qualified researcher at the NARILIS Institute. Her research focuses on studying compounds that could modify the efficiency of the protein production process and thus open up new therapeutic approaches.
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BABots: a European bio-robotics project led by UNamur researchers
The design and analysis of the individual and collective behaviour of small biological vermiform robots: this is the objective of BABots, an ambitious interdisciplinary research project led by the University of Namur and conducted by a consortium of seven European partners. This project could lead to multiple and promising solutions in the field of agriculture, bio-industry or even industry and medicine.
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Understanding cell migration to fight cancer
When a tumour develops in an organism, it is very common for the cancer cells to leave the tumour and move to another organ where they proliferate, creating what are known as metastases. This process is an important factor in mortality, as it means that the disease worsens. Hence the interest in better understanding what happens during this phenomenon. This is what the multidisciplinary team of Carine Michiels, researcher at the NARILIS Institute of UNamur, and Davide Bonifazi, researcher at the University of Vienna, did in the framework of the PACMAN research project financed by the FNRS. The results of this study are published in the journal Neoplasia.
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Inauguration of the new Morph-Im platform bioimaging facility
On 15 March 2023, Prof. Henri-François Renard and Prof. Alison Forrester introduced the new advanced bioimaging tools of the UNamur Morphology & Imaging technology platform available to a broad audience of users.
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Synthetic choirs | A choir of robots created at the UNamur
A choir of robots sounds like science fiction! Yet it is a reality at the University of Namur. In the robotics laboratory of the Faculty of Computer Science, researchers from the naXys institute, led by professors Elio Tuci and Timoteo Carletti, some members of TRAKK, some artists and external partners collaborated on the "Synthetic Choirs" project.
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Researchers involved in ESA's JUICE space mission
Within the SPACE pole of the naXys Institute, researchers are interested in the evolution of planetary systems at different scales: space debris, natural and artificial satellites, asteroids, (exo)planets, etc. As part of the JUICE mission, post-doctoral researcher Alexis Coyette and Professor Anne-Sophie Libert are interested in Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons, and are seeking to model its internal composition and rotation. It is believed that this satellite has a global ocean of liquid water beneath its surface. The study of its rotation will provide more information about this ocean and thus the potential habitability of this satellite.
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Prestigious visit by Prof. Jean-Luc Brédas
On 9 June 2023, the NISM and naXys Institutes, the Physics and Chemistry Departments and the Namur Research College were delighted to welcome Prof. Jean-Luc Brédas from the University of Arizona. A prestigious speaker of international renown, Prof. Brédas completed his doctoral thesis with Prof. Jean-Marie André at the University of Namur.
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From the twinkling of fireflies to the stripes of zebras: mathematics explain synchronisation
Very often in nature, we observe phenomena of natural synchronisation and the emergence of regular patterns: a crowd applauding in unison at the end of a concert, the cells in the walls of the heart pulsating in a coordinated fashion, black and white stripes on a zebra, brown spots surrounded by black in leopards... But how can we explain this uniformity if there is no global controller or explicit rule directing this coordination?
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ESA's BepiColombo prepares for its third Mercury flyby
BepiColombo will fly past Mercury on 19 June 2023. It will pass close to the planet's surface at an altitude of approximately 236 km. BepiColombo is an ESA/JAXA mission involving a team of researchers from the University of Namur (naXys institute).
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ARTEMIS, a new project to develop new quantum sources
Yves Caudano, F.R.S.-FNRS qualified researcher, member of the NaXys and NISM Institutes and the UR-LLS (Lasers and Spectroscopies Laboratory) research unit, is taking part in a major European research project. The aim? To find new quantum light sources with unprecedented versatility, flexibility and performance.
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An AstraZeneca-FNRS-FWO Foundation award for Charlotte Beaudart
On 13 December 2023, Charlotte Beaudart, a new academic at the University of Namur Faculty of Medicine, will be awarded a prize at the annual ceremony for Belgian scientific research in support of her innovative research on the subject of ageing.
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XVIII International Workshop on Artificial Life and Environmental Computation WIVACE 2024
The workshop provides a forum for the discussion of new research directions and applications in Artificial Life, Evolutionary Computation and in related fields, where different disciplines and research areas could effectively meet. It was first held in 2007 in Sampieri (Ragusa), as the incorporation of two separate workshops (WIVA and GSICE).
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