Nb. 10 - June 21st, 2024 - Let's get ready for summer!

For this last edition of the academic year, so many news coming from the platforms!
Highlights include company testimonials, visits from public figures, new equipment, training and sustainable development.
 
Platforms continue to be successful with companies and cooperatives - ELIA, Farm for Good and VOCSens talk about their collaboration in a video - but also with public figures.
 
Fundings from the Wallonia Plan de relance and the FNRS continue to materialize, with the installation of new equipment for examining surfaces at the nanometer scale (a milllionth of a millimeter!), isotopic analysis of water and the determination of ratios between stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N). For which applications?
Read on!

We also focused on two microscopes that can be used to study the fracture surfaces of materials (for example) or to visualize thick tissue in 3D in the field of cell biology.
 
Certified training courses will also be available from October : you'll be able to acquire new skills in data analysis at every stage of your professional life.
 
Last but not least, the 2IP platform was awarded the LEAF Bronze label for its efforts to manage its activities in a more sustainable way.
 
Enjoy your reading, have a good summer break, and we look forward to seeing you in September!

The platforms Community

Do not hesitate to talk about this initiative and to relay it around so that an ever-growing public is informed of what is happening within the UCLouvain platforms!
 

Companies testimonials

"This is an important project for us because, besides increasing the efficiency of repairs, it give us a far greater flexibility. No outage is required. And why is that important? For maintenance, if we need fewer outages and can be more flexible, we will have more time to devote to building the grid of the future."

Frédéric Mangialetto, Asset Management - Linear Assets & Structures at ELIA, on a project lead by CREDEM to repair electricity pylons without interrupting the power supply

Clotilde de Montpellier, Founder of Farm for Good, on her collaboration with the FERM platform

"The needs are plentiful in terms of research and innovation. This helps us different sowing dates, different varieties, different associations, different ways of weeding, different ways of harvesting, so that we can make the best decisions within the network."

"VOCSens wants to stay at the forefront of gas sensor technology and in turn connect with technology platforms such as Winfab, to continuously benefit from the expertise of professionals on site and to be able to develop new technologies."

Yann Danlée, Founder and CSO of VOCSens, on his collaboration with the WINFAB platform

The Farm for Good and VOCSens testimonial videos were produced with the support of the Province du Brabant wallon.

Prototyping platform
Prototypes tailored to meet specific needs in a large variety of research areas: robotics, mechatronics, bioengineering, fluid mechanics, process engineering, thermodynamics, and energy

Fermes universitaires de Louvain
• Field crops, farming and market gardening
• Over 100 hectares to study environmental, agricultural and food issues
Contact

Micro- and nanofabrication platform
• Cleanroom
• Thin-films deposition, thin-films etching, surface patterning, micromachining and back-end processes

Interest from public figures

On May 16, CICN welcomed Tanguy Stuckens, Sophie Keymolen, Chantal Versmissen Solie (Province of Walloon Brabant), and Nicolas Van der Maren (City of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve)
Their visit follows on from the article in the last newsletter about the DELICEN'S project and nutrition for seniors. They learned about the platform's other projects in the fields of nutrition, well-being and marketing.

Center of Investigation in Clinical Nutrition
Clinical nutrition studies
to assess the benefit of food supplements or food on human health
Contact

New equipment
Acquired thanks to the Wallonia "Plan de Relance" and the FNRS Large Equipment call
 

To monitor the evolution of organic carbon in soils, identify sources of nitrogen in atmospheric deposits or analyze pesticide dynamics, the MOCA platform is able to determine the ratios between stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N).

To better understand and manage water resources, from the study of hydrological cycles to the traceability of water resources, the MOCA platform now offers water isotope analysis (δD and δ18O).

For microstructural characterization of surfaces on the nanometer scale, a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (TEM) is now operational within the LACaMI platform.

• Processing of materials (metallic materials and polymers)
• Chemical analysis
• Microstructural characterisation

• Chemical analysis of mineral and organic constituents of complex matrices: soil, water, plants, food, waste, biotechnology

State-of-the-art equipment? For which application?
Platform equipment is clearly at the cutting edge of technology. But for which applications? Which platform is equipped? This new section aims to provide some answers.

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) for observing the surface of a sample at the nanometer scale to determine
• its geometry
• the elementary composition and location of its constituent elements

A wide range of applications, from biology to powders and metals
In the field of materials research:
- Examination of typical fractographic profiles
- Cohesion of powder samples
- Quantitative analysis and distribution of alloying elements within samples

• Processing of materials (metallic materials and polymers)
• Chemical analysis
• Microstructural characterisation

Lightsheet.Z1 microscope (Zeiss) for light-sheet fluorescence microscopy
This technique, used in cell biology, enables rapid 3D imaging of thick tissue (made transparent by an optical tissue clarification method), while limiting photobleaching and phototoxicity.
On the left: cutaneous nerve fibers.
See the 3D reconstruction in this video

Imaging platform
 • Preparation of biological samples
• Image acquisition
• Image analysis
Contact

Sustainable development

The 2IP platform is the first platform to be awarded Bronze status as part of the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) initiative
LEAF is a standard established by University College London to improve the sustainability and efficiency of laboratories. UCLouvain joined this initiative in 2022, along with 85 other international organizations.

Training courses

Become a certified Junior Data Analyst with this program starting in October 2024!
This course will be of interest to recent graduates as well as to people in the workforce looking for a career change, or even those who already handle data on a daily basis.

Statistical Methodology and Computing Service
Data analysis training courses and consultancy services

Want to learn something new but need help financing it?
The SMCS offers several solutions, depending on the training : training vouchers, educational leave scheme of Wallonia, CPD (Continuous Professional Development) points for IABE (Institute of Actuaries in Belgium) members, etc.

Platforms are hiring

The 2IP imaging platform is looking for a Laboratory Technologist

Imaging platform
 • Preparation of biological samples
• Image acquisition
• Image analysis
Contact

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