Three PhD students join the Collegian Board of NARILIS: Sarah Mathieu, Christoph Schifflers and Laure Morimont

Sarah Mathieu, Christoph Schifflers and Laure Morimont are the three PhD students who will be joining the Collegian Board of NARILIS! This follows a call for the recruitment of young researchers to assist its members in their efforts to develop and pursue meaningful goals. The Collegian Board’s missions are indeed to define strategic objectives and actions in this regard, such as promoting interdisciplinary research, increasing interactions between UNamur and CHU UCL Namur, facilitating sharing of expertise and resources, raising visibility and attractiveness of the institute, supporting young researchers by offering them a high quality research environment and training, planning of scientific events, stimulating a sense of being part of the institute and fostering solidarity… By integrating three PhD students, the Collegian Board of NARILIS hopes to gain a better understanding of their needs and expectations, and would like to take their remarks into account when drawing up its action plan. For PhD students, it is a unique opportunity to be heard and to actively participate in the development of NARILIS institute.

Sarah Mathieu holds a master in Biomedical sciences from the UNamur. During her studies, she became involved in the team of Prof. Nicolas Gillet (UNamur, URVI) where she performed a master thesis on APOBEC3B dysregulation in adenovirus-infected lymphocytes. Passionate about the subject, she decided to stay in Nicolas Gillet’s group and started her PhD in October 2021 thanks to a FRIA scholarship. Her doctoral research aims to further explore the role of the innate antiviral effector APOBEC3B on the replication of wildtype adenoviruses and adenoviral vectors.

Christoph Schifflers holds a master in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology from the UNamur. He joined the team of Prof. Carine Michiels (UNamur, URBC) as a master student and had the opportunity to work on a project entitled “X-ray irradiation for immune-modulation in head and neck cancer”, combining his most favorite topics - oncology, immunology and radiotherapy. Since October 2019, Christoph is a Télévie PhD student, enrolled in a joint doctoral thesis at DKFZ German Cancer Research Center (Dr. Angelika Riemer) and UNamur (Prof. Carine Michiels). The goal of his research is to investigate the immunogenic and immune-suppressive effects of charged particle radiotherapy and conventional X-ray radiation in HPV-driven vs non-HPV-driven head and neck cancer.

After being graduated in Pharmaceutical sciences from the UCLouvain in 2018, Laure Morimont started her PhD at the UNamur under the supervision of Prof. Jonathan Douxfils and Prof. Jean-Michel Dogné (UNamur, Pharmacy department). In 2019, she joined the “PhD in enterprise program” at QUALIblood, a CRO based in Namur and specialized in blood investigations and hemocompatibility testing. She is working on the HIC project “Hormone-induced Coagulopathy”, whose goal is to bring into clinical routine a test capable of assessing the prothrombotic risk in women using a hormonal therapy. Thanks to this experience, she is developing an academic background with an industrial perspective.

From left to right: Sarah Mathieu, Christoph Schifflers and Laure Morimont.

Picture by Christophe Swijsen