Histology Unit

The Histology department focuses its research and teaching activities on the morphological description of different cells and organs by optical and electron microscopy. The course of General Histology given to students of 1st bac Medicine and 2nd bac Biology and Biomedial Sciences is focused on the description of histological tissues (epithelia, muscles, connective tissue, bone and cartilage, nervous tissue, blood and bone marrow). The course of Special Histology given to the 2nd Bac Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and 3rd Bac Biology points to the morphological and ultrastructural study of organs (skin, liver, lungs, kidneys, etc.). These basic courses are completed in the Masters in Biology and Biomedical Sciences by specialized courses as Comparative Histology of Vertebrates and Histology of the sense organs. These notions of histology provided to students integrate other courses such as Physiology, Biochemistry, Immunology or Cellular Biology. Finally, the notions of Histology represent an essential prerequisite for other courses such as Anatomopathology.

The supervision of master's theses in Biological Sciences and Biomedical Sciences and PhD theses constitutes a major educational investment of the service. These research activities based on morphological approaches are generally  performed in collaboration with other services of UMons or with international laboratories.

The research activities of the Histology laboratory are centered on 4 themes:

• The toxic effects induced by endocrine disruptors
• The toxicity associated to the exposure to metal oxide nanoparticles
• The role of FXR (Farnesoid X receptor) played in estrogen or androgen-dependent cancers
• Comparative histological study of visual structures and opsins in Squamata