NAmur Research Institute for LIfe Sciences
Stéphane Lucas
Radiobiology and radiation therapy research
Understanding biological response to radiation and improving radiation therapy
Biomaterials
Engineering materials for biomedical applications
Prof. Stéphane Lucas PhD
UNamur, Department of physics, Physics of Matter and Radiation (PMR), Laboratory of Analysis by Nuclear Reaction (LARN)
Member of Namur Research Institute for Life Sciences (NARILIS) & Namur Institute of Structured Matter (NISM)
Member of the Namur Cancer Research Pole
Member of the Namur Nanosafety Center
Research portal UNamur | ORCID | ResearchGate | LinkedIn
Expertise and research interests
Prof. Stéphane Lucas is a physicist with expertise in the field of radiobiology and nanotechnology, as well as in material sciences.
Together with Prof. Carine Michiels and Prof. Anne-Catherine Heuskin, he set up an experienced radiobiology team, composed of physicists and biologists. The LARN laboratory possesses an Altaïs Tandetron Linear Accelerator and an X-ray irradiator, allowing to irradiate in vitro cell cultures with charged particles (protons, He+ particles, Li+ ions, carbon ion or photons). The team has also gained experience in the synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles. Their aim is to study the cellular response following nanoparticle exposure combined or not to cell irradiation. They previously shed light on mechanisms by which gold nanoparticles make tumor cells more sensitive to irradiation. Besides radiobiological experimental studies, Stéphane Lucas also works on theoretical modeling of cell response to radiation and dosimetry calculations. Ultimately, their research activities seek to optimize cancer radiation therapy, as well as to achieve a more efficient cancer treatment by combining nanotechnology and protontherapy. Stéphane Lucas is involved in European projects, such as RISE, Rotifer In SpacE, and INSPIRE, a European network that aims at sharing Proton Beam Therapy research.
Another part of Stephane Lucas' research concerns the safety assessment of nanomaterials. Within the Namur Nanosafety Center (NNC), a multidisciplinary platform, he contributes his expertise to the physicochemical characterization of nanoparticles.
Moreover, Stéphane Lucas has also developed a strong expertise in the design and surface modification of materials (see Namur Institute of Structured Matter, NISM). This unique knowhow allows his group to work on a wide range of applications, including biomedical applications.
Group members
Postdoc: Dr. Victor Delprat
PhD student: Valentin Job, Andrea Scarmelotto and Romain Tonneau
Research projects
Radiobiology
- ONGOING Emerging Proton Therapies (EPT). Ongoing PhD thesis by Romain Tonneau.
- ONGOING Setting up 2D and 3D biological models for the study of the oxygen role in in vitro FLASH therapy. Ongoing PhD thesis by Andrea Scarmelotto. Postdoctoral research by Dr. Victor Delprat.
- ONGOING FLASH effect in proton therapy: beam tracking through oxygen depletion in tissues and associated biological mechanisms. Ongoing PhD thesis by Lucas Schoenauen. Under co-supervision by Prof. Anne-Catherine Heuskin (promoter) and Prof. Stéphane Lucas (co-promoter).
- ONGOING RISE: RISE-LARN 2022 2023: Bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga: a new eukaryotic extremophile model organism to study the impact of radiation and microgravity on biological processes. Research by Prof. Anne-Catherine Heuskin, Prof. Stéphane Lucas and Richard Coos.
- RISE: Rotifer In SpacE - Bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga, a new eukaryotic extremophile model organism to study the impact of radiation and micro-gravity on biological processes. Collaborative research project between ULB (Prof. Karine Van Doninck), UNamur (Prof. Stéphane Lucas, Prof. Anne-Catherine Heuskin and Dr. Boris Hespeels) and SCK-CEN (Prof. Sarah Baatout and Dr. Bjorn Baselet).
- PROTHER-WAL: Proton Therapy Research in Wallonia. WP1 - Polyvalence du système d'irradiation. Postdoctoral research by Dr. Nilsu Cini (Aug 2021 - 2022).
- Contextual synthetic lethality to optimise glioblastoma cell responses to proton and X-ray irradiation: an upscaling approach to study radiosensitisation and radioresistance. Postdoctoral research by Dr. Anne-Catherine Wera. Under co-supervision by Prof. Carine Michiels (promoter) and Prof. Stéphane Lucas (co-promoter).
- Hybrid gold nanoparticles coated with organic polymers and antibodies as a platform for cancer theranostics: cytotoxicity assessment and radiolabeling. PhD thesis defended by Noami Daems on 02/09/2020. PhD thesis at SCK-CEN (Dr. An Aerts and Prof. Sarah Baatout) in collaboration with UNamur, under co-supervision by Prof. Stéphane Lucas (promoter) and Prof. Carine Michiels (co-promoter).
- Study of secondary electron emission from gold nanoparticle irradiated by protons Renewal. PhD thesis defended by Felicien Hespeels on 13/05/2019.
- NanoROS: Unravelling the Mechanism of Gold Nanoparticle Radiosensitization in protontherapy. PhD thesis defended by Sébastien Penninckx on 01/03/2019. Under co-supervision by Prof. Stéphane Lucas (promoter) and Prof. Carine Michiels (co-promoter).
- Role of the interactions between tumor cells and endothelial cells or macrophages in radioresistance observed during treatment with rays X, protons or alpha particle. PhD thesis defended Géraldine Genard on 30/05/2018. Under co-supervision by Prof. Carine Michiels (promoter) and Prof. Stéphane Lucas (co-promoter).
- Theraplus: Combining nanotechnology and protontherapy for a more efficient treatment of cancer. Research project by Prof. Stéphane Lucas (PI) and Prof. Carine Michiels (co-PI). In collaboration with ULiège (Prof. Philippe Martinive), UCLouvain, IREC (Prof. Olivier Feron) and UCLouvain, LDRI (Prof. Bernard Gallez).
Nanosafety
- PATROLS: Physiological Anchored Tools for Realistic nanOmateriaL hazard aSsessment. International project involving partners from UNamur: Prof. Stéphane Lucas (PI) and Dr. (PI)
- NANOGECO: Nanoparticle generation by atomization processes in spray coating. Research project by Prof. Jean-Michel Dogné (PI), Dr. Julie Laloy (coordinator) and Prof. Stéphane Lucas (co-PI). In collaboration with Fraunhofer IPA - Germany, N.V. Dothée SA - Belgium and Graz University of Technology - Austria.
Biomaterials
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ONGOING Optimisation of antibacterial and antiviral coatings by physical ways. Ongoing PhD thesis by Valentin Job.
- Development of colloidal biosensor for in vitro medical diagnosis. Under co-supervision by Prof. Jean-Michel Dogné and Prof. Stéphane Lucas. In collaboration with CHU UCL Namur (Prof. François Mullier) and QUALIblood (Prof. Jonathan Douxfils).
SARS-CoV-2
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Selected publications
Scarmelotto A, Delprat V, Michiels C, Lucas S, Heuskin AC. The oxygen puzzle in FLASH radiotherapy: A comprehensive review and experimental outlook. Clinical and Translational Radiation Oncology. 2024 Volume 49.
Daems N, Verlinden B, Van Hoecke K, Cardinaels T, Baatout S, Michiels C, Lucas S, Aerts A. In Vivo Pharmacokinetics, Biodistribution and Toxicity of Antibody-Conjugated Gold Nanoparticles in Healthy Mice. J Biomed Nanotechnol. 2020 Jun 1;16(6):985-996.
Hespeels B, Penninckx S, Cornet V, Bruneau L, Bopp C, Baumlé V, Redivo B, Heuskin AC, Moeller R, Fujimori A, Lucas S, Van Doninck K. Iron Ladies - How Desiccated Asexual Rotifer Adineta vaga Deal With X-Rays and Heavy Ions? Front Microbiol. 2020 Jul 31;11:1792.
Penninckx S, Heuskin AC, Michiels C, Lucas S. Gold Nanoparticles as a Potent Radiosensitizer: A Transdisciplinary Approach from Physics to Patient. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Jul 23;12(8):E2021.
Penninckx S, Heuskin AC, Michiels C, Lucas S. Thioredoxin Reductase Activity Predicts Gold Nanoparticle Radiosensitization Effect. Nanomaterials (Basel). 2019 Feb 19;9(2).
Hespeels F, Heuskin AC, Tabarrant T, Scifoni E, Kraemer M, Chêne G, Strivay D, Lucas S. Backscattered electron emission after proton impact on gold nanoparticles with and without polymer shell coating. Phys Med Biol. 2019 Apr 15.
Li S, Bouchy S, Penninckx S, Marega R, Fichera O, Gallez B, Feron O, Martinive P, Heuskin AC, Michiels C, Lucas S. Antibody-functionalized gold nanoparticles as tumor targeting radiosensitizers for proton therapy. Nanomedicine (Lond). 2019 Feb;14(3):317-333.
Fichera O, Alpan L, Laloy J, Tabarrant T, Uhrner U, Ye Q, Mejia J, Dogné JM & Lucas S. Characterization of water-based paints containing titanium dioxide or carbon black as manufactured nanomaterials before and after atomization. 2019 Appl Nanosci 9, 515–528.
Heuskin AC, Gallez B, Feron O, Martinive P, Michiels C, Lucas S. Metallic nanoparticles irradiated by low energy protons for radiation therapy: are there significant physical effects to enhance the dose delivery? Med Phys. 2017 Aug;44(8):4299-4312.
