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Two researchers at the Institut du Langage, du Texte et de la Transmédialité (NaLTT) have just been awarded funding from the F.R.S - FNRS following calls whose results were published in December 2024.Composed of researchers in linguistics and literature, the NaLTT Institute constitutes an interdisciplinary space for diachronic and synchronic research into verbal and multimodal communicative practices that manifest themselves in, are shaped and/or regulated by culture and society.

Program 5-6pm: Student read-aloud6-7:30pm: Lecture by Julia Kerninon7:30pm-9pm: DrinkConference and performance aimed at students but open to all, interns and externs. Free but reservation required (aurelie.sinte@unamur.be)

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.

Last June, the UNamur Board of Directors officially announced the creation of the Observatoire des Littératures Sauvages (OLSa). Founded in 2022 under the leadership of Denis Saint-Amand, FNRS qualified researcher in the Department of French and Romance Languages and Literatures, this research center studies how literature is constructed outside of books and literary institutions, through alternative objects or channels.

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)

Abstract Estrogens originating from human and animal excretion, as well as from anthropogenic sources such as cosmetics, plastics, pesticides, detergents, and pharmaceuticals, are among the most concerning endocrine-disrupting compounds in aquatic environments due to their potent estrogenic activity. While their effects on fish reproduction are well documented, their impact on development, particularly metamorphosis, remains poorly studied. This hormonal transition, mainly controlled by the thyroid axis, is essential for the shift from the larval to the juvenile stage in teleosts.The effects of two contraceptive estrogens on zebrafish (Danio rerio) metamorphosis were evaluated: 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), a synthetic reference estrogen, and estetrol (E4), a natural estrogen recently introduced in a new combined oral contraceptive formulation. Continuous exposure from fertilization to the end of metamorphosis allowed the assessment of morphological changes, disruptions of the thyroid axis, and modifications of additional molecular pathways potentially involved in metamorphic regulation.EE2 induced significant delays and disturbances in metamorphosis, affecting both internal and external morphological traits, confirming its role as an endocrine disruptor of concern. In contrast, E4 did not cause any detectable morphological alterations even at concentrations far exceeding those expected in the environment, indicating a limited ecotoxicological risk. Molecular analyses showed that EE2 strongly affected thyroid signaling and energy metabolism during metamorphosis, whereas E4 induced only minor transcriptional and proteomic changes.This study provides the first evidence that EE2 can disrupt zebrafish metamorphosis and highlights the importance of including this developmental stage in ecotoxicological assessments. The results also suggest a larger environmental safety margin for E4, although further research is needed to clarify the mechanisms linking estrogen exposure to metamorphic regulation.JuryProf. Frederik DE LAENDER (UNamur), PresidentProf. Patrick KESTEMONT (UNamur), SecretaryDr. Sébastien BAEKELANDT (UNamur)Dr. Valérie CORNET (UNamur)Prof. Jean-Baptiste FINI (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris)Dr. Marc MULLER (ULiège)Prof. Veerle DARRAS (KULeuven)