Nb. 6 - June 21st, 2023 - A well-deserved summer

Technology platforms have been particularly active over the past three months. In this issue, their activities are presented from the perspective of teaching, research and innovation, and training.

Some of the platforms have hosted and helped to supervise students on challenges where teaching meets research and innovation: creating a structure that allows guests of a hotel to rest above the water, or developing an innovative, healthy and sustainable aperitif snack that won the 2023 edition of the national Food At Work Ecotrophelia competition.

New equipment - an NMR spectrometer and a confocal microscope - have further strengthened the analytical potential. As part of the Walloon Plan de Relance, further equipment is planned for the coming months.

The platforms presented their expertise and infrastructures to Walloon companies last April, and numerous contacts were made. Collaborations are now being finalized.

Talking of collaborations, companies share their experience and talk about their partnership with a technology platform in the context of innovative projects.

These are just some of the topics in this edition. We invite you to browse through it to find out more, and wish you a wonderful summer!

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!

Teaching

LEMSC hosts the Structure Challenge
Last May, the LEMSC hosted the STRUCTURE CHALLENGE, a competition between 16 teams of students from 6 universities and university colleges, who had to design, calculate, build and test a support structure that would allow a person to rest above the water, in a suspended hammock, at a maximum distance from the bank.

Mechanical testing, structures, and civil engineering laboratory
• Mechanical control tests on materials
• Special tests on railway equipment
• Design of special tests on the 200 m² test floor

Research and innovation ...

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

The Fermes universitaires de Louvain platform supports the emergence of innovative and eco-responsible healthy food
A good example? Apéronia, an aperitif duo consisting of crackers and a spread, whose star ingredient is aronia, a superfruit rich in bioactive phenolic compounds and cultivated locally. This healthy, sustainable snack was developed by five students from the Faculty of Bioscience engineering and has just won the national Food At Work Ecotrophelia 2023 competition.
 
... and adopts a new logo with the support of the Province du Brabant wallon

Prebiotics ? Probiotics? The CICN explains the difference and is looking for volunteers for a new study
The CICN is looking for participants with slow transit (1 to 3 bowel movements per week) for a new clinical study.
The aim is to see what effect a dietary supplement based on natural plant extracts (kiwi, magnolia and peony) and prebiotics (acacia gum) has on transit.

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

... with new equipments ...

ASM: A new NMR spectrometer
There are many applications in the chemical, pharmaceutical, food, environmental and renewable energy sectors.
With superior analysis quality and sensitivity, this equipment can be used to analyse solid samples at variable temperatures.

Structural and Molecular Analysis
• Structural characterization
• Setting up methodologies
• Feasability tests
• Results analysis and interpretation

IMABIOL: A new confocal microscope ...
With unmatched resolution, speed, and sensitivity, the LEICA STELLARIS 8 FALCON microscope delivers stunning 3D images and allows to capture dynamic processes in real-time and give you a bird's eye view of the intricacies of life at the cellular and molecular levels.

... and a software for the vizualisation, analysis and interpretation of 2D to 5D images.
Designed for reliable processing and reconstruction of extremely complex images in just a few minutes, the AIVIA analysis software is available free of charge to UCLouvain staff until May 2024 within the IMABIOL platform.

Biological imaging platform
High resolution imaging of biological samples: confocal microscopy, epifluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy
Contact

... and testimonials from companies


The platform also offers great services and support for designing, drawing, manufacturing and testing the prototypes. By hosting our burner prototypes, CREDEM provides us access to valuable existing infrastructure and analytical equipment to accelerate our research and development, and helps us bring cost-effective decarbonization solutions to the market before it is too late.
Charles Lhuillier, Research engineer

Today, I am excited to share with you a cutting-edge innovation project that we have been working on for the past year: a mechanical solution to repair pylons damaged by agricultural machinery that could generate 12 tons of force. This project is the result of a fruitful partnership between our engineering team and the skilled researchers, engineers and technicians of the OpenHub and the CREDEM technology platform at UCLouvain, showcasing the effectiveness of design thinking, rapid prototyping, and interdisciplinary collaboration in solving complex problems.
Kris Laerman, Project leader

Design, prototyping and testing of electromechanical devices
Prototypes tailored to meet specific needs in a large variety of research areas: robotics, mechatronics, bioengineering, fluid mechanics, process engineering, thermodynamics, and energy

Training courses

Summer school Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Python
11 to 14.07.2023

Modular version of the Junior Data Analyst university certificate
From 06.10.2023

Statistical Methodolody and Computing Service
Data analysis training courses and consultancy services
Contact

Agro-Louvain Services Platform
Studies, advice, R&D, training and outreach in agriculture, environment, forestry and agri-food
Contact

Learn more about plant diseases and the best practices to follow in the garden
The non-profit organisation CORDER - a member of the PALS platform - is organising a theoretical and practical training course to help you identify the pests that cause problems in your garden.

Welcome !

Nearly 300 people are working on a daily basis within the UCLouvain platforms. Discover those who have joined this community in the last 3 months!

Since 1st April 2023, Lionel Mignion has held the position of Research Logistician within the NEST platform. He is responsible in particular for EPR (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance) and DNP (Dynamic Nuclear Polarization) technologies.
 

Nuclear and Electron Spin Technologies
• Cutting-edge magnetic resonance technologies
• Studies on biological samples and small animals
• Identification of convenient biomarkers for monitoring parameters involved in several pathologies

Since December 2022, Hrag Esfahani has joined the Integrated Physiology platform.
With his expertise in rodent surgery, ultrasound imaging, the study of in vivo haemodynamic profiles and ex vivo vascular function, he supports researchers in the phenotyping of animals.

Integrated Physiology
 • Surgery on small animals
• Hemodynamic profiling of rodents by telemetry
• Ultrasound and Laser Doppler imaging
• Study of vascular reactivity
• Electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR)
• Pancreatic islet/aggregate/organoid perifusion
Contact

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