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! 

Over the past two decades, Carine Michiels, professor of cell biology at UNamur and member of the radiobiology group at UNamur's life sciences research institute (NARILIS), has significantly advanced our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the interaction between radiation and cancer cells. Within the Institute's cancer center, her research is based on a strong integration of cell biology and radiation physics, supported by a long-standing collaboration with the Institute's physicists, Professor Stéphane Lucas and Professor Anne-Catherine Heuskin. By bridging the gap between biology and physics, his team has conducted cutting-edge interdisciplinary research with the aim of improving the effectiveness of radiation therapy for cancer. 

One of their main achievements is the development of innovative therapeutic approaches that combine advanced irradiation techniques, such as proton therapy, with unique nanohybrid compounds. These compounds, consisting of gold nanoparticles coupled with targeted antibodies, act as radiosensitizers, increasing the sensitivity of cancer cells to radiation while limiting damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

By paving the way for more precise and personalized cancer treatments, Carine Michiels' research is fully in line with the objectives of the SCK CEN Chair. Her achievements illustrate how fundamental research in radiation sciences can translate into significant advances in medicine and public health.

The University of Namur and SCK CEN have been collaborating for many years, notably through joint research projects and co-supervision of theses, including most recently that of Naomi Daems, for which Carine Michiels and Stéphane Lucas were co-supervisors alongside Professor Sarah Baatout (SCK CEN).  Thanks to the latter, Carine Michiels joined the group of experts of the Belgian delegation to UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation), an international UN committee set up to assess the effects of ionizing radiation on human health and the environment.

In addition to receiving a personal award, the SCK CEN Chair holder will give an inaugural lecture and a series of lectures for students, SCK CEN researchers, and the Belgian nuclear community in general during a scientific visit to the Research Center in Mol, Belgium. The series of lectures will be organized in collaboration with the SCK CEN Academy.

For several years now, heritage sciences have been experiencing a particularly significant boom. This deeply interdisciplinary field of research aims to foster dialogue between the humanities and natural sciences with a view to improving our knowledge of heritage objects, whether they be parchments, works of art, or artifacts discovered during excavations.

Manuscripts bear witness to ancestral practices and know-how, which unfortunately are poorly documented. It is still unclear why legal documents were preferably written on sheepskin parchment in England from the 13th century until 1925. Among the hypotheses put forward is the fact that sheepskin is whiter, and therefore more attractive, but above all that documents written on it were considered unforgeable due to the tendency of sheepskin to delaminate (any malicious attempt to erase the text would thus be revealed). This delamination property was exploited because it allowed the production of high-quality writing surfaces. It was also used to prepare strong repair pieces used to fill any tears that appeared during the parchment manufacturing process. Understanding why sheepskin delaminates is of interest in the context of traditional parchment preparation techniques, offering valuable insights into the interaction between animal biology, craftsmanship, and historical needs.

Delamination is the phenomenon whereby the inner layers of the skin separate along their interface as a result of mechanical stress. The diagram (a) below shows the structure of the skin, which consists mainly of the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. The dermis is divided into two layers, the papillary dermis and the reticular dermis, which contain hair, hair follicles, and sebaceous glands. 

During the parchment manufacturing process, a step following liming involves scraping the skin to remove the hair. This step crushes the sebaceous glands, releasing fats and creating a void where the hair was located (diagram b). 

The study showed that delamination occurs within the papillary dermis itself, in this structurally weakened area, rather than at the papillary-reticular junction as previously assumed. 

The unique nature of the delamination process in sheepskin is highlighted by the skin structure, which differs from that of other animals (calves, goats) used to make parchment, as it has a high fat content associated with a large number of primary and secondary hair follicles. In the study, the presence of fats was confirmed using Raman spectroscopy.

This study combines experimental archaeology and advanced analytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy, to characterize the delamination process and the adhesion of repair pieces on experimentally produced sheepskin parchment. It benefits from the expertise in archaeometry, biology, chemistry, and physics of the researchers involved.

Beyond its visual and structural implications, delamination has contributed to promoting the use of sheepskin for prestigious documents, improving the surface properties of parchment. The study of the interaction between metal-gallic ink and delaminated sheepskin (wetting experiments) showed that ink diffusion and writing quality are improved, a key finding that provides insight into how surface morphology and composition influence writing performance.

At UNamur, Marine Appart, a PhD student in physics, is conducting this multidisciplinary research on the archaeometry of delamination and repairs on a sheepskin parchment under the supervision of Professor Olivier Deparis (Department of Physics, NISM Institute). 

Also part of the UNamur team are:

• Professor Francesca Cecchet (expert in Raman spectroscopy), Department of Physics, NARILIS and NISM Institutes
• Professor Yves Poumay (skin specialist), Department of Medicine, NARILIS Institute
• Dr. Caroline Canon (histology specialist), Department of Medicine
• Nicolas Gros (PhD student in heritage sciences), Department of Physics, NARILIS and NISM Institutes

Other international experts

• Professor Matthew Collins (world expert in biomolecular archaeology, Department of Archaeology, The McDonald Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK)
• Jiří Vnouček (curator and expert in parchment production, Preservation Department, Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen, Denmark)
• Marc Fourneau (biologist) 

This study and the resulting article were inspired by the delamination experiments conducted in 2023 by Jiří Vnouček during a symposium in Klosterneuburg, Austria, in which Prof. Olivier Deparis participated. The symposium was organized by Professor Matthew Collins as part of the ABC and ERC Beast2Craft (B2C) projects.

But it all began in 2014, when the Pergamenum21 project, dedicated to the transdisciplinary study of parchments, was launched.  Pergamenum21 is a project of the Namur Transdisciplinary Research Impulse (NaTRIP) program at the University of Namur. The project received an additional grant in 2016 from the Jean-Jacques Comhaire Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation (FRB).

The projects and events followed one after another, including: 

• May 2014: a transdisciplinary seminar on parchment, the scientific techniques used to characterize this material, and historical questions at the Mauretus Plantin Library (BUMP)
• May 2017: "Autopsy of a scriptorium: the Orval parchments put to the test of bioarchaeology," a transdisciplinary research project co-financed by the University of Namur and the Jean-Jacques Comhaire Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation
• April 2019: a publication in Scientific Reports, Nature group - Jean-Jacques Comhaire Prize: discovery of an innovative technique based on measuring the light scattered by ancient parchments. This technique makes it possible to characterize, in a non-invasive way, the nature of the skins used in the Middle Ages to make parchments
• September 2020: a residential workshop on making parchment from animal skins at the Domaine d'Haugimont – a first in Belgium
• July 2022: a new project on parchment bindings for the restoration workshop at the Moretus Plantin University Library (BUMP) thanks to the Jean-Jacques Comhaire Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation.
• September 2024: a residential symposium-workshop at the Domaine d'Haugimont on the theme of the physicochemistry of parchment and inks using experimental and historical approaches 

Overall, the work of Marine Appart and her colleagues clarifies the structural and material factors that make sheepskin parchment susceptible to delamination and offers new insights into the surface properties of this ancient writing material. UNamur is now establishing itself as a major player in parchment research.

Professor Olivier Deparis, along with several of the researchers involved in this research, are also working on the ARC PHOENIX project.  This project aims to renew our understanding of medieval parchments and ancient coins. Artificial intelligence is used to analyze the data generated by the characterization of materials. This joint study will address issues related to the production chain and the use of these objects and materials in past societies. 

HEPATANT is a project run by the Wagralim Competitiveness Cluster and coordinated by ORTIS Laboratories, a company that has been a pioneer in the field of phytosanitary products (plant-based dietary supplements) for 60 years. It aims to find a natural treatment for fatty liver disease.  Several partners are involved in the project, including Professor Thierry Arnould (UNamur, URBC-Narilis).

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is an accumulation of fat in the liver linked to metabolic disorders associated with metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, or excessive alcohol consumption.  Initially, it is often asymptomatic but can progress to inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis, or even liver cancer. However, it is reversible in its early stages (steatosis).  Treatment is based on weight loss, a healthy diet (reduced sugar/fat intake), and physical exercise, as few specific drugs have been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) at this time.  Dietary supplements—based on plants known to be beneficial—are often used to treat this type of condition, but there is little or no scientific and mechanistic evidence on the actual effects of these products.

If the effectiveness of a dietary supplement or combination of supplements could be demonstrated, it would be possible to intervene at the primary stage of the condition and undoubtedly prevent this liver disorder, thereby halting or at least slowing its progression to advanced or even irreversible stages.  This is the aim of this project, in which Professor Thierry Arnould was chosen for his expertise in lipid metabolism. Professor Arnould and postdoctoral researcher Célia Thomas are testing plant extracts (including hops) in vitro on fat-laden cells to investigate the effects that increase or decrease lipid accumulation. 

The originality and feasibility of the project lie in the alliance of scientific experts internationally recognized for their expertise in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, and in technological and agronomic sciences, with renowned industrialists in their field of expertise related to the project's needs. 

In addition to its main objective of creating an effective formulation against hepatic steatosis by combining the best plants or plant substances, this project also aims to generate economic growth, create and sustain jobs in Wallonia, and contribute to the international reputation of the Walloon partner universities: UCLouvain and UNamur.

Since their creation in 2006, competitiveness clusters have brought together companies, accredited research centers, and universities around ambitious collaborative projects. Supported and funded by the Walloon Region to stimulate innovation and economic growth, competitiveness cluster projects are organized around six strategic sectors: biotechnology (BioWin), aerospace (SkyWin Wallonia), logistics (Logistics in Wallonia), green chemistry (GreenWin), mechanical engineering (Mecatech), and food system transition (Wagralim). aerospace (SkyWin Wallonia), logistics (Logistics in Wallonia), green chemistry (GreenWin), mechanical engineering (Mecatech), and food system transition (Wagralim). 

The projects aim to develop innovative products, services, or processes, creating jobs and strengthening international competitiveness. UNamur is heavily involved in these projects.

From fundamental to applied research, UNamur demonstrates every day that research is a driver of transformation. Thanks to the commitment of its researchers, the support of its partners from all walks of life, funders, industrial partners, and a solid ecosystem of valorization, UNamur actively participates in shaping a society that is open to the world, more innovative, more responsible, and more sustainable.