Votre navigateur ne supporte pas le javascript Wallonia & Brussels against COVID-19 - University

University

Pierre Duysinx, Professor - Simon Bauduin - Pablo Alarcon - Trillet Denis - Joffrey Coheur - Laura Prijot - Antonio Martinez

ULiège
" Using digital fabrication machines (laser cutter, 3D printing), the Fablab of the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department of the Université de Liège has produced protective solutions (mainly Protective Face Shields) to protect healthcares from aerosol projection. These protective solutions have been distributed to the caregivers in hospitals in the region of Liège. A multidisciplinary team (PhD students and technicians under the supervision of a academic professor) at the Fablab from the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department of the Université de Liège (Belgium) has developed and produced emergency protective solutions against Covid-19 for hospitals and caregivers. Most of these solutions have been developed using digital fabrication machines (laser cutter, 3D printers,...). We have produced mainly Protective Face Shields to protect caregivers from aerosol projection. A few thousand protections have been produced and distributed to caregivers from the CHU of...

Pierre Morsomme, Professor - Henri-François Renard, Professor

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...

Pierre Smeesters, Professor

HUDERF and ULB
" Role of Children in Sars-Cov-2 transmission, Heath Care Worker protection, Paediatric epidemiology and disease burden "
Funding: FNRS funding under assessment.
Contact: Prof Pierre Smeesters Academic Children Hospital Queen Fabiola Molecular Bacteriology Laboratory, ULB This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Pierre VAN DER BRUGGEN, Professor

UCLouvain 
"Des données récentes suggèrent qu'une réponse exacerbée du système immunitaire face au SARS-CoV-2 pourrait contribuer à l'aggravation des symptômes des patients placés en soins intensifs. Ce phénomène est bien connu des immunobiologistes. En effet, certains traitements d'immunothérapie du cancer visant à inhiber PD-1 et/ou CTL-4 ou à administrer des lymphocytes T autologues porteurs de récepteur chimérique (CAR-T cells) peuvent avoir des effets secondaires similaires à cet emballement de la réponse immunitaire, tels qu'une tempête cytokinique. Ces thérapies visent à restimuler les lymphocytes T CD8 dits « épuisés », qui se développent à la suite de la persistance d'un pathogène et de l'inflammation qu'il provoque, lors d'une infection virale chronique ou lors d'un cancer. Vu cette similitude entre les effets secondaires des traitements réactivateurs du système immunitaire et de la réaction de certains patients à l'infection par le SARS-CoV2, une identification du phénotype...

Quentin Papeloer - Naïma Sallem, Dr- Alain Jonas, Professor

UCLouvain - Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
" 3D printing of protective visors "
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ruddy Wattiez, Pr. - Lionel Tafforeau, Pr. - Rob Onderwater, Dr. - Stéphanie Roosa, Dr.

UMONS, Materia Nova - Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
" Development of a test for the antiviral activity of a coating, material or textile. "
Contact: Contact: Pr. Ruddy Wattiez, Vice-rector of research and innovation of the university of Mons This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Saïd Mahmoudi, Professor - Thierry Dutoit, Full Professor - Sidi Ahmed Mahmoudi, Professor- Xavier Lessage, Eng - Sohaib Laraba, Eng - Omar Seddati, Phd - Mohammed Amin Belarbi, Eng - Olivier Debauche, Eng

UMONS - Faculty of Engineering - ILIA and ISIA Departments
" This study allows an early Covid-19 diagnosis by using AI and explainable based classification and detection methods applied to CT and X-ray datasets. Many datasets form several hospitals in Belgium are used. The goal of the project is to use AI based methods to identify Covid-19 patients. Explainable AI methods are used to provide efficient interpretation and visualization tools for the classification and detection results obtained. The second goal of this project is to create a benchmark dataset composed of chest CT and X-ray database related to Covid-19 disease. To this aim, a semi-automatic annotation tool is developed in order to allow fast image annotation by radiologists. - Explainable artificial intelligence applied to Covid-19 detection based on CT and X-ray images. - Annotation tool development to build a benchmark database. "
Funding: University of Mons - Faculty of Engineering
Publication References: ...

Serge Goldman, Scientific Director

CMMI
" The Center of Microscopy and Molecular Imaging (CMMI) is currently involved in establishing an accurate SARS-CoV-2 virus distribution topography in the organs and various cells of patients who died in COVID-19 units by providing immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy services (study director Pr. Isabelle Salmon). We have also developed and are currently offering preclinical multimodal quantitative imaging - of lung inflammation - of bacterial population (pathogen or no pathogen) - and of viral infection by isotopic imaging. All these models enable the understanding of pulmonary pathological features caused by SARS-viruses such as CoVID-19. From molecular to humanized animal models, the CMMI provides customized imaging solutions to research projects on Coronavirus The CMMI is also a proud partner of the ULB diagnostic platform set-up in Gosselies to face the epidemic of SARS-CoV2. "
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Comment: The CMMI was co-founded by ULB et UMons and is supported...

Serge Habraken, Professor

ULiège
" The Centre Spatial de Liege is developing a process for mask recycling by cleaning, decontamination and dehydradation. The process combines ethanol/water mix cleaning with an innovative outgassing step under vacuum. The decontamination is already proven thanks to the collaboration with the Veterinary Faculty . The outgassing step aims to retrieve mask performance (mainly filtration efficiency) close to original. "
Funding: No, internal ULiege project
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Simon Dellicour, FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher

ULB - FNRS
" Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented number of genomic sequences of the causative virus (SARS-CoV-2) have been publicly released. The resulting volume of available genetic data presents a unique opportunity to gain real-time insights into the pandemic, but also a daunting computational hurdle if analysed with gold-standard phylogeographic methods. We here describe and apply an analytical pipeline that is a compromise between fast and rigorous analytical steps. As a proof of concept, we focus on Belgium, one of the countries with the highest spatial density of sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes. At the global scale, our analyses confirm the importance of external introduction events in establishing transmission chains in the country. At the country scale, our spatially-explicit phylogeographic analyses highlight an impact of the national lockdown of mid-March on both the long-distance dispersal events and the dispersal velocity of viral lineages. Our...

Sofia Morra, FNRS Research Fellow

ULB, Hôpital Erasme - FNRS
Lung injury, endothelial dysfunction and the role of RAAS during SARS-CoV-2 invection. " The first case of a person infected with SARS-Cov-2 virus can be tracked back on November the 17th, 2019, in China. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. On April 13, COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories worldwide, about 2 million positive cases have been officially declared along with 115.000 deaths. The real number of infected and deaths is scarily higher, considering that up to 65% people are asymptomatic and thus, not tested. The percentage of patients with COVID-19 needed for intensive care unit (ICU) varied from 5 to 32% in Wuhan, China. It was up to 9% in Lombardy, Italy. According to available data from Lombardy, 99% of patients admitted to the ICU needed respiratory support (88% invasive ventilation, 11% non invasive ventilation). In this unprecedented time, while SARS-Cov-2 virus is halting...

Souad Rahmouni, Doctor

GIGA-Institute, ULiège - FNRS - Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
" The main objective of our research program is the identification of human genetic factors impacting the COVID19 pandemic. Within the COVID-19 host genetics initiative (https://www.covid19hg.org/), we will establish a shared set of phenotypes to be combined with genomic data for standard GWAS and further meta-analysis. Field of expertise of our laboratory : genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, immune-response related diseases. In addition, the GIGA Institute is an interdisciplinary research institute from the ULiege devoted to academic excellence in the biomedical sciences to foster ground-breaking medical innovation. It comprises 583 members attached to six faculties (Medicine, Science, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Agbiotech, Psychology) that are organized in four disease-based (neuroscience, cancer, infection-inflammation-immunity, cardiovascular) and two method-based thematic units...

Stefan Constantinescu, Professor

UCLouvain - Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium

Determination of Germ-Line Variations and Pathological Gene Expression that May Contribute to Immunopathology in COVID-19." The SARS-CoV-2 infection (1, 2), can be followed by a severe evolution with severe respiratory distress. We hypothesize that germline variants in genes involved in innate immunity, especially type I interferon induction and actions, predispose to delayed pathological response/cytokine storm. Our aims are to identify: i) such germ-line variants and ii) peripheral leukocyte gene expression that can predict unfavorable SARS-CoV2 infections. A group of SARS-CoV2 patients with unfavorable evolution, young and without co-morbidities (25) will be compared with an aged matched group of 25 SARS-CoV2 individuals with absence or a minimum of symptoms. Germ line DNA obtained from peripheral blood (PB) will be whole exome sequenced (WES) and analyzed with bioinformatics tools that are used for rare disease germline...

Stéphane CARLIER, Prof - Jean-Marie COLET, Prof - Fabrice JOURNE, Dr - Sven SAUSSEZ, Prof- Vincent RICHARD, Dr - Camélia ROSSI, Dr

UMONS and Ambroise-Paré Hospital Mons
" Predictive plasma signature of the clinical behavior of COVID-19 patients. The clinical presentation of COVID-19 infection varies from mild to asymptomatic to pneumonia, which can be complicated by severe respiratory failure and/or cardiovascular, renal, hepatic and cutaneous involvement. The understanding of such a polymorphism is very incomplete and the prognosis is difficult. Several tracks involving inflammatory reactions are currently favored to better explain this disease. In particular, the significant increase in plasma cytokines IL2, IL7, IL10, GSCF, IP10, MCP1, MIP1A and TNFα, known as "cytokine storm", seems to be significantly associated with the ARDS and multi-organ onsets. In this context, IL6 seems to play an important role and targeted treatments against this cytokine seem promising. Also, the infection of endothelial cells by the coronavirus causing endothelium inflammation have been suggested as one of the fundamental...

Thomas Michiels, Professor

UCLouvain
" On the one hand, we are developing a safe, middle throughput seroneutralization assay to correlate standard serology to seroneutralization and to enable vaccine response analysis. On the other hand, we develop a basic research project on the identification of a promising drug target site in the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of positive-stranded RNA viruses, conserved in SARS-CoV-2. During researches performed in the framework of an EOS program, we seredendipitously discovered a conserved region of viral RNA-dependent RNA-polymerases that has properties to be targetable by drugs. This site appears to be conserved in several viruses including SARS-CoV-2 and other important human pathogens. In collaboration with a swiss group working on coronaviruses and other partners, we plan to examine the impact of this polymerase target site on the replication of several viruses, its drugability and the reason for its conservation during evolution. "
Funding: - contribution to a small...

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Brussels & Wallonia against COVID19