By analyzing adverse event reports recorded in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s pharmacovigilance database, researchers at UNamur have shown that certain birth control pills containing estrogens more similar to those naturally produced by the body, such as 17β-estradiol or estetrol, were associated with fewer reports of blood clots than pills containing ethinylestradiol, a synthetic estrogen that has been widely used for several decades. Furthermore, the rates observed with these new generations of contraceptives were similar to those reported for progestin-only pills, which are considered the safest in terms of cardiovascular risk.

This study confirms data collected by the same team in EudraVigilance, the European database for managing and analyzing reports of adverse drug reactions, and published in 2025 in the journal Contraception.

The findings of this research send an important message regarding public health, as the pill is used by millions of women worldwide. These results call for a reevaluation of certain prescribing practices in favor of options with a more favorable or even neutral thrombotic profile. This contribution is all the more crucial today, as more and more people are turning away from contraceptives or hormone replacement therapies, which are nonetheless essential for public health.

“Our goal is to shift the landscape of prescribing guidelines. Biological and observational evidence supporting formulations based on natural estrogens is growing. These data show us that safer alternatives exist; it is time to reverse the trend. ” — Lucie Raskin, Researcher in the Department of Pharmacy.

Beyond the findings themselves, this publication highlights the role of Belgian academic research in a field with significant societal impact. Through this work, Lucie Raskin embodies a new generation of researchers committed to addressing concrete issues in women’s health, while Jonathan Douxfils contributes the scientific and clinical expertise he has developed over several years on the links between hormones, coagulation, and thrombotic risk. This expertise now extends beyond the local context and is part of a European and international effort, particularly through Jonathan Douxfils’ participation in several international expert networks dedicated to contraceptive safety and the assessment of hormone-related thrombotic risk.

While venous thrombosis is the most serious complication associated with hormonal contraceptive use, other aspects are also beginning to be studied by the scientific community, particularly in terms of bone health and mental health. Regarding the risks of breast cancer, here too, the data are currently being updated and show favorable profiles depending on the progestin used.

This research demonstrates that more informed contraceptive choices are possible and that better use of scientific knowledge can improve prevention, reduce serious complications, and promote more personalized medicine in the field of women’s health. 

• Birth Control Pills: Assessing the Risk of Thrombosis for Safer Prescribing 
• Safer oral contraceptives thanks to natural estrogens

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! 

This PUNCh project, led by Hélène Givron, associate professor and educational coordinator in the Department of Psychology at the University of Namur, is designed to address educational needs in interprofessional training. The goal was to develop a fun, flexible tool that could be adapted for use in various contexts, in order to address a significant challenge in the field. 

The main objective of this workshop was to strengthen interprofessional communication and collaboration in the healthcare field. A multidisciplinary team was therefore formed, composed of representatives from various sectors: Catherine Magnette (Instructor, Department of Medicine), Romain Siriez (Educational Coordinator, Department of Pharmacy), and Laura Demarthe (Assistant, Department of Psychology), to bring together students from the Master’s in General Practice and the Master’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences at UNamur, as well as the Master’s in Nursing (Hénallux), to address these issues.

This educational tool draws on various skills essential to teamwork, such as active listening, the ability to clearly articulate ideas, task coordination, and collective decision-making. Each puzzle presented a challenge that required genuine cooperation among group members, as no solution could be found by working alone. 

Following the game phase, a debriefing session was held with all participants. This discussion aimed to reflect on the experience gained during the workshop and to encourage students to think about the concepts of collaboration and interprofessional communication in the healthcare context. The game served as a tool to illustrate certain cooperative scenarios, but also to highlight challenges related to coordination and information sharing. The debriefing thus facilitated a dialogue among students from different programs regarding the barriers and enablers of effective communication. Participants had the opportunity to share their feelings, compare their perspectives, and discuss strategies to promote better collaboration among healthcare professionals. 

The educational objectives of the workshop were clearly defined:

• Address the skills necessary for interprofessional collaboration, such as communication and collective decision-making.
• Identify the drivers and barriers to interprofessional collaboration.
• Contribute to improving the quality and safety of care through better coordination among professionals.

“I hope this experience will lead to a change in practice. The game gives you the tools to assert yourself, especially as a young doctor when you have to integrate into teams with more experienced colleagues. It helps you stand your ground and build self-confidence.” — Yorick, medical student 

“Based on the information we received, we expected an activity with exclusively ‘medical’ content. This unique experience takes us beyond the scope of typical role-playing scenarios.” - Margaux, medical student 

“I found this workshop to be very useful; it adds value and is very interesting. We never have simulations focused on collaboration. It would be interesting to incorporate this into the curriculum.” – Nursing student

Venous thrombosis is one of the most serious complications associated with combined oral contraceptives. While this risk is low overall in the general population, it increases significantly in women with specific genetic mutations, such as Factor V Leiden or the G20210A prothrombin mutation, which affects 5 to 7% of the Caucasian population.  

"Most people with genetic mutations that promote coagulation disorders are unaware of this because they are not systematically screened. The actual risk of thrombosis when prescribing birth control pills is therefore underestimated for these patients," explains Laure Morimont, a researcher at the Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Research Unit (URPC) and head of this research.  

As part of her doctoral research, Laure Morimont—under the supervision of Professor Jonathan Douxfils (Director of the URPC and member of the Department of Pharmacy)—has been working on the development of a blood test to assess the risk of thrombosis associated with taking the contraceptive pill. This test, known as nAPCsr (Normalized Activated Protein C Sensitivity Ratio), measures the degree of resistance to activated protein C, a natural inhibitor of coagulation. 

By cross-referencing the nAPCsr of a sample of patients taking oral contraceptives with data on the actual risk of thrombosis from pharmacovigilance studies, Laure Morimont's team was able to develop and validate a robust prediction model demonstrating a significant correlation between the thrombotic risk estimated by the nAPCsr for a given pill and the actual incidence of thrombosis observed in the population. 

Based on this model and the established reference thresholds, the nAPCsr can then be used to assess a patient's individual risk profile. The test generates a score ranging from 0 to 10, allowing the patient to be ranked in relation to these reference values and her eligibility for a given contraceptive pill to be assessed. "If the test results remain within the reference standards, the patient is considered eligible for any contraceptive pill and the doctor can safely prescribe the desired one. On the other hand, if her score deviates from these standards, the doctor can carry out a more thorough assessment or refer the patient to a pill considered to be less risky. Ultimately, our goal is to help the medical profession in its choice of prescription," emphasizes Laure Morimont. 

Currently available in several hospitals in Wallonia at a cost of approximately €70, the test is currently under discussion with a view to partial or total reimbursement by health insurance companies. 

The result of six years of research, the work of the URPC team has just been published in Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis (RPTH), a journal of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), an international learned society specializing in thrombosis and hemostasis. 

This publication will also serve as the basis for efforts underway with the European Medicines Agency to recognize this test as an official biomarker. 

At the same time, Laure Morimont and her team are continuing their efforts to raise awareness among general practitioners and gynecologists in Wallonia, with the aim of making the test known to a wider range of patients. The nAPCsr is also set to be used outside Belgium, thanks to a collaboration initiated with a hospital in France.