CER Groupe
" "As Approved Research Centre in life sciences, the CER Groupe was requested several times to participate in the action plan against Coronavirus. Among the actions taken, we can point out : • The setting up of an operational structure, qualified to carry out PCR covid-19 tests to assist local hospitals in the lockdown ending and tracing phase ; • Involvement in a Belgian consortium to develop an ELISA quantitative serological test to supplement the PCR analytical capacity and secure the lockdown ending phase ; • implementation of antibody bioproduction for therapeutic/diagnostic use. Finally, let us point out that all of these actions were possible thanks to the involvement and synergy of the CERg various operating units. - development of an ELISA quantitative serological test : design, production and characterization of antigens; design/validation of the ELISA test; production of ELISA kits - production of antibodies in various species (lamas, hens, rabbits, pigs, goats...

Read more: Bertrand Moinet, CEO - Nathalie Gillard, Dr - Eric Fichant, Dr - Patrice Filée, Dr - Jean-Noel...

ULiège
" I am leading the Organic and Biological Analytical Chemistry laboratory. This research group is specialized in developing integrated solution for biological samples characterization, especially non-targeted screening. We also develop method for target studies in different sample types. "
Publication References: F. Schleich, D. Zanella, P.-H. Stefanuto, K. Bessonov, A. Smolinska, J.W. Dallinga, M. Henket, V. Paulus, F. Guissard, S. Graff, C. Moermans, E.F.M. Wouters, K. Van Steen, F.-J. van Schooten, J.-F. Focant, R. Louis, Exhaled Volatile Organic Compounds Are Able to Discriminate between Neutrophilic and Eosinophilic Asthma. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 2019, 200, 444-453. (10.1164/rccm.201811-2210OC) R. Pesesse, P.-H. Stefanuto, F. Schleich, R. Louis, J.-F. Focant, Multimodal Chemometric Approach for the Analysis of Human Exhaled Breath in Lung Cancer Patients by TD-GC×GC-TOFMS. J. Chromatogr. B 2019, 1114, 146-153. (10.1016/j.jchromb.2019.01.029) D. Zanella, P.-H...

Read more: Jean-François Focant, Professor

ULB and CHU-Charleroi
" MAker Study for COVID-19 Patient follow-up in intensive Care Unit (MASC-19) Around 5-10 % of patients suffering from COVID-19 symptom aggravation require intensive care. Among them half will die. COVID-19 is often compared to sepsis however few are known about this pathology and physicians are unable to discriminate which patients will suffer from severe symptoms. For this reason, Mask-19 project, which gathers CHU-Charleroi, the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy (ULB) and CNRS (France), will investigate markers in sera of COVID-19 patients collected in March and April 2020. They will be compared to septic patients by metabolomics and molecular networks for a better follow up of this specific patients "
Funding: COVID-ULB
Contact: Prof. Dr Pierre Van Antwerpen Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy RD3- Pharmacognosy, Bioanalysis, Drug Discovery and Analytical Platform of the Faculty of Pharmacy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +3226505263 +3226505249...

Read more: M. Piagnerelli, Professor, CHU-Charleroi-ULB - K. Zouaoui Boudjeltia, Professor, CHU-Charleroi-ULB...

GSK - Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium
" Support covid international: https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/resource-centre/our-contribution-to-the-fight-against-2019-ncov/ Support covid en Belgique: https://be.gsk.com/media/915368/cp-gsk-contributions-majeures-de-gsk-a-la-lutte-contre-le-covid-19.pdf NA NA "
Funding: NA
Contact: Philippe Denoel - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UCLouvain - UNamur
" One of the key determining factors in viral infection is the entry of the virus into the host cells. Different CoVs including MHV, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV have been consistently demonstrated to engage the endocytic pathway as the main mechanism for viral entry into a variety types of host cells. At present, the entry mechanisms and the implication of the endocytic pathway of the new emerging SARS-CoV-2 have not been reported directly. It is known that SARS-CoV-2 utilizes the same receptor of SARS-CoV, which is angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2) for viral entry into the host cells. Since SARS-CoV-2 also binds to the same ACE2 receptor as SARS-CoV it is highly possible that this new CoV utilizes the same endocytic pathway for entry into the host cells. Besides, a recent report suggests that SARS-CoV-2 invaded host cells via another route of CD147-spike protein. Our lab is studying the endocytosis mechanism of several plasma membrane receptors previously...

Read more: Pierre Morsomme, Professor - Henri-François Renard, Professor

ULiège 
" My main research interest is the development of complete analytical solutions for biomedical applications. I mostly focus on breath and other volatile matrices characterization. "
Publication References: Zanella, D., HENKET, M., SCHLEICH, F., Louis, R., Focant, J.-F., & Stefanuto, P.-H. (2019). Multi-matrices screening for untargeted volatilomics by GC×GC-TOFMS. European Respiratory Journal. Supplement, 54, 4272. Purcaro, G.* , Stefanuto, P.-H.* , Flavio, F., Marco, B., Wieland-Alter, W., Wright, P., & Hill, J. (2018, March). SPME-GC×GC-TOF MS fingerprint of virally-infected cell culture: Sample preparation optimization and data processing evaluation. Analytica Chimica Acta. SCHLEICH, F., Zanella, D., Stefanuto, P.-H., Dallinga, J., HENKET, M., Wouters, E. F. M., Van Steen, K., Van Schooten, F., Focant, J.-F., & Louis, R. (2019). Exhaled Volatile Organic Compounds Are Able to Discriminate Between Neutrophilic and Eosinophilic Asthma. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF...

Read more: Pierre-Hugues Stefanuto, PhD