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...

Read more: Pierre Duysinx, Professor - Simon Bauduin - Pablo Alarcon - Trillet Denis - Joffrey Coheur - Laura...

UCLouvain - FNRS 
" Large-scale survey on the evolution of alcohol consumption / addictive behaviors (in the general population and in at-risk groups) during the COVID-crisis/lockdown period, and its links with environemental and psychological factors. "
Funding: None
Contact: 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

UCLouvain
" www.covidata.be We gather data about the Coronavirus in Belgium, and attempt to extract meaningful information from it. We use open and/or public data to enable these analyses. "
Funding: No funding
Publication References: Work in progress
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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.

UCLouvain and ULB
" Research project on the impact of covid-19 on the private and professional life of nurses in Belgium. Data were collected on more than 4,500 nurses (in hospital, nursing home, home care, etc.) on their working conditions during the covid-19 epidemic as well as on burnout with Maslach Burnout Inventory and on the job strain (psychological demands and decision latitude) with the Karasek model. "
Funding: None
Publication References: https://www.lalibre.be/dernieres-depeches/belga/coronavirus-plus-de-six-infirmiers-sur-dix-risquent-l-epuisement-professionnel-selon-une-enquete-5eaca25c7b50a67d2ef882a5
Contact: Pierre Smith, nurse and PhD Student in public health, Institute of Health and Society, UCLouvain: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Arnaud Bruyneel, nurse and PhD Student in public health at ULB, SIZ Nursing: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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...

Read more: Pierre VAN DER BRUGGEN, Professor

ULB
" The project aims at assessing the impact of holding municipal elections in France on the spread of the covid-19 epidemic by studying the relationship between turnout and the spread of the disease in areas at different stages of the epidemic. "
Funding: We have applied for a grant from FNRS.
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Comment: The project is at the data collection stage. No results are available yet.

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

USL-B
" Aides économiques "
Publication References: de Broux, Pierre-Olivier. Article 36. Accès aux services d'intérêt économique général. In: F. Picod, C. Rizcallah et S. van Drooghenbroeck, Charte des droits fondamentaux de l'Union européenne. Commentaire article par article (Droit de l'Union européenne; 2), Bruylant: Bruxelles, 2020, p. 905-920. Actualités en droit public économique, éd. de Broux, Pierre-Olivier ; Nihoul, Pierre (Recyclage en droit), Anthemis:Limal, 2017. de Broux, Pierre-Olivier. Le droit public économique bruxellois : une politique Capitale. In: Pierre-Olivier de Broux, Bruno Lombaert et Dimitri Yernault, Le droit bruxellois. Un bilan après 25 ans d'application (1989-2014), Bruylant: Bruxelles, 2016, p. 1159-1219.
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UCLouvain, ULB, KU Leuven, UAntwerpen
" This project aims at appraising through a longitudinal survey, the effects of the confinment on psychological well-being and authoritarian tendencies (N = 1200 at T1 and N = 520 at T2). "
Funding: none
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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.

UMONS 
" The high-performance computing facility of UMONS (Dragon 2, which is part of the Consortium des Equipements de Calcul Intensif), has been adapted and used to run the analysis of the COVID-19 phylogenetic clusters performed by the Spatial Epidemiology Laboratory at ULB (Dr. S. Dellicour and Prof. M. Gilbert). "
Contact: people involved at UMONS: Sébastien Kozlowskyj, system manager This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Prof. Roberto Lazzaroni This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UMONS
" In emergency departments, 40 to 50 medical masks are currently used per day and per patient. When considering the current shortage faced by healthcare staff, it is essential to study the possibility of decontaminating this equipment in order to reuse it. In recent years, plasma technologies, developed in symbiosis in Mons by UMONS and MATERIA NOVA, one of the UMONS Innovation Centers, have often been highlighted for their ability to modify and improve the properties of surfaces of materials of all types. In the context of the current health crisis and the glaring problem of a shortage of medical equipment, a working group has been set up the Walloon Region to study ways of producing masks and reusing used ones. Regarding the reuse of masks, the expertise of Mons helps on the evaluation of the capacity of plasmas to efficiently decontaminate the masks in plasma systems that would be installed in hospitals. If this strategy has been studied for several years around the world, it...

Read more: Rony Snyders, Professor UMons - Thomas Godfroid, Scientific Leader, Materia Nova

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.