Evelyn Fox Keller presents : "Climate Science, Truth, and Democracy"
Very Special IF this friday 27/11/2009 at 17:00 !
An impasse of credibility currently prevails in the US around the issues of climate change that threatens to paralyze citizens and experts alike. Much of the internet, radio talk shows, and popular television is flooded with challenges to the credibility and trustworthiness of climate scientists, and even the prestige press (e.g., NY Times and NYRB) has, in an effort to adhere to their traditional ethic of "balance," has contributed to the widespread misimpression that climate scientists are deeply divided about both the extent of the dangers we face and the relevance of human activity. Not knowing who or what to believe, not knowing how to assess the costs of inaction, the natural response for most people is to do nothing. Meanwhile, the evidence of the seriousness of the problem continues to mount. Most climate scientists, even though extremely concerned, have been reluctant to weigh in on these (often acrimonious) public debates, instead seeking recourse in the particular authority granted them by "peer review," and fearing that going outside, beyond the reach of peer review, might undermine their credibility. The effect is that the debate that rages in the public domain remains unchecked for intellectual or scientific reliability. The situation is dire, for, given that we live in a democratic state, the possibility of any effective action depends absolutely on the consent of a properly informed public. The questions I want to pose are therefore of two kinds: The first concerns the role of expertise in a democratic society, the ways in which lay citizens can responsibly participate in policy decisions, and the question of how a lay reader is to decide who and what to believe. The second concerns the nature and limits of the climate scientist's particular responsibility in this political and social situation.
photo iGEM/David Appleyard
The iGEM PARIS team won a special prize for its works on ethics and Synthetic Biology
Dr. Etienne Couturier presents "Fold and leaf shape" 6/11/09 at the CRI
by (newly promoted) Dr. Etienne Couturier
Laboratoire Matières et Systèmes Complexes, UMR CNRS 7057-Université Paris Diderot
We have noticed an original analogy between the leaf configuration in the bud and the paper dolls. If you fold a paper sheet and cut it with scissors, each fold will give either a sinus either a lobe when you unfold it. A lot of leaves follow this geometry in the bud. The leaf margin is folded on a plane as if it had been cut with scissor For this purely geometric reason, lobes and sinuses of the unfolded leaf exactely correspond to the initial folds. We have called these leaves "kirigami", which means fold and cut.
The purely geometric first part of this thesis shows how much the leaves geometries are constrained by their folded development. We also show that these geometries are very diverse and create very different leaves shapes. The second more biologic part proposes a mecanism for the fold development and a candidate to play the scissor role. We conclude by giving an original insight on leaf shape evolution.
You may have seen Etienne Couturier as he was starting his PhD in the film "Cherche toujours" by Mathias Théry et Etienne Chaillou (2008)... See the end of the story, live !
Misha Gromov (Abel Prize) presents "Biology seen by a great mathematician"
Conference on Friday 23rd 2009 at 17:00
at the CRI, 2nd Floor, Conference room 2006
Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes
24 rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques 75014 Paris
Don't miss this event !
Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov (Russian, born 23 December 1943) also romanized as Mikhael Gromov or Michael Gromov) is a Franco-Russian mathematician known for important contributions in many different areas of mathematics. He is considered a geometer in a very broad sense of the word.
Misha Gromov, is now permanent professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (IHES at Bures sur Yvette, France) and at the New York University.
He has won many scientific prizes and, recently, the 2009 Abel Prize "for his revolutionary contributions to geometry".
Websites :
http://www.ihes.fr/~gromov/
http://as.nyu.edu/object/IO_3199.html
Over 100 participants for the "2009/2010 Frontières du Vivant Opening days" scheduled on Wed 23rd and Thu 24th 2009, at the Medicine Faculty of Cochin in the Auditorium Luton (Ground Floor) and in our facilities (CRI 2nd floor for the posters exhibition).
For the first time the FdV program includes three full years of students and a new AIV M1 is launched: many exciting prospects for our enlarged community indeed !
We were happy to welcome new FdV and AIV students that started with us at the integration week and project creation workshop in Fréjus : they are just great !
An interesting program (see below) was set to launch the new academic year : news from the CRI, 2009/2010 academic year, introduction of the newcomers, presentation of the clubs' work and preparation of the new ones.
Two highlights took place on thursday 24th September 2009 :
First, the Andrew Murray's conference in the morning about "How to find a « good » Postdoc lab".
Andrew Murray, professor from Harvard, is spending a sabbatical year amongst us at the CRI.
Then we had the great honour to welcome the official visit of Liliane Bettencourt herself, accompanied by Patrice de Maistre, Armand de Boissière, Flora Donsimoni from the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller.
Liliane Bettencourt has visited the new premises of the school, met and encouraged the three proms of FdV students and interviewed some of them about their career path and life at the FdV school.
It was a moving moment, especially when Liliane Bettencourt adressed the audience and reminded that when she came two years ago the FdV students were only 7... and that they are are now 75. She strongly believes in this very original school, for which the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller provides financial support and management input, to help all these talented students make it to the top !
Liliane Bettencourt with the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller and Frontières du Vivant staff and students
The FdV/AIV workshop, set in Frejus (on the French Mediterranean coast) during 6 days (6-12 September 2009), intends to assemble free spirited students and researchers from broad scientific backgrounds to conceive creative projects at the interface with Life Sciences. The CIRP workshop attempts to provide the primary basis for collegiality and communication through dialogue and brainstorming on open questions in Life Sciences.
Aims of the CIRP workshop:
To be able to focus on an important scientific question and to define the means to approach it from different disciplines
To be able to zoom out (have a broader view) and zoom in (be precise and define the key experiments)
To think and express your ideas more clearly.
To gain confidence in your ideas.
To be able to discuss, reject or accept ideas.
To learn to take constructive scientific criticisms
To learn how to write a research proposal.
To discuss scientific questions thoroughly.
To learn to interact with people from different backgrounds.
The workshop is mandatory for Master 2 AIV and first year FdV PhD students.
Detailed program, practical informations, contributions... on the dedicated Moodle page
Location : La Villa Clythia, CAES CNRS
2754, rue Henri Giraud 83600 Fréjus
Tel. 04 94 83 66 06 / ax 04 94 95 67 22 
iGEM Paris : the team 2009 at work !
The project : We aimed developing a long distance communication system between gram-negative bacteria that is based on the ability of these organisms to produce Outer-Membrane Vesicles (OMVs). We designed a framework which can be easily expanded to a lot of different inputs/ouputs. We hope this standardized approach will increase our capacity to manipulate information and/or exchange it between bacteria. This can be used in any engineered biological process requiring transformation or a system of information transfer, including medical applications and bio-remediation.
The team : It's the 3rd year for the Paris Team and we're still motivated to do our best. This year we have a team of 13 students (what a luck). We are 6 biologists, 2 mathematicians, 1 computer scientist, 1 sociologist, 1 infectiologist, 1 geneticist, and 1 chemist. We've got the best of the best of the best supervisors like Ariel Lindner, Guillaume Cambray and Samuel Bottani. So... let's the contest begin!
More info : http://2009.igem.org/Team:Paris
Contact Ariel Lindner / Samuel Bottani
Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires
tél + 33 1 44 41 25 22
mail :
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Don't miss Valentin Nägerl at the CRI on wednesday 1st July 2009, special guest of Neurobiology & Optics club.
Valentin Nägerl, PhD
Nanoscale imaging of living synapses by STED microscopy
Synapses are physical sites of intercellular contact that transmit and transform information in a very rapid and flexible way. They represent incredibly complex and dynamic networks of signaling proteins aggregated in a tiny space (<1µm3), making it a huge experimental challenge to study them in situ. As a result, a lot of our understanding of the properties of single synapses is derived from electron microscopy of fixed tissue samples, which is by definition not well suited for understanding the dynamic processes of synapses.
We are studying the dynamics of living synapses with a new laser-scanning fluorescence microscopy technique, STED imaging, which has vastly improved spatial resolution (at the nanoscale) compared to conventional light microscopy. Expanding our previous research, we are investigating key structural and cell-biological mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, imaging morphology and constituent proteins of synapses in living brain slices on spatial scales relevant to synapse physiology.
Valentin Nägerl
Professor of Neuroscience and Bioimaging
Avenir Group - Synaptic Plasticity and Superresolution Microscopy
Inserm U862/Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2
146, rue Léo Saignat
33076 Bordeaux
France
Phone: +33/557571097
Fax: +33/557571684
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
More info, CV and publications on the next page.
Patrick Berche presents "The history of Bioterrorism", 26/06/2009 at 15:00
at the CRI, new conference room 2006 - 2nd Floor
The dean of our Medicine Faculty, Prof. Patrick Berche, will share with us his rich expertise and knowledge on the "History of Bioterrorism", Friday 26/06/2009 at 15:00
...You are all invited !
Patrick berche on Wikipedia :
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Berche
Patrick berche blog (in french) :
http://blogs.univ-paris5.fr/berchep/weblog/
Book :
Patrick Berche, L'histoire des guerres biologiques secrètes, Robert Laffont, 2009.
17:00 next tuesday 16 June 2009, Agnes Ullmann, special guest of the Genome club !
Seminar on the french school of molecular biology in the sixties.
link to the poster in full size: Poster agnes ullman seminar.jpg
Pr Fritjof Helmchen, Neurobiology and optics club guest
This Friday 12 June 2009 at 18:00 at the CRI, Professor Fritjof Helmchen will be among us.
Professor Fritjof Helmchen is performing his research at the border between Neuroscience and physics. He investigates the dynamics of neuronal activity in the intact brain of anesthetized and awake animals by using innovative optical mesurements methods that allow him to track the spiking activity of hundreds of neurons deep into the (almost) intact cortex of
mammals. He has also been developping miniaturized microscopes allowing him to explore optically the cortical activity in freely moving mice.
The prospect of exploring optically the cortex as a dynamical 3D structure is wildly regarded as key to a full understanding of this complex brain structure. Pr. Helmchen has been a pionner and published a series of milestone articles in this transdisciplinary field. A list of his key articles can be found at the end of this message.
Further description of his precise work can be found at :
http://www.hifo.uzh.ch/research/neurophysiology/helmchen/interest.html
His full Curriculum Vitae can be found at :
http://www.mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.de/departments/cellPhysiology/zpProjects/2pImaging/fritjofHelmchen/fritjofHelmchenCV/index.html
* Engelbrecht CE, Johnston RS, Seibel EJ, Helmchen F (2008) Ultra-compact
fiber-optic two-photon microscope for functional fluorescence imaging in
vivo. Optics Express, 16:5556-5564.
* Göbel W, Kampa BM, Helmchen F (2007) Imaging cellular network dynamics
in three dimensions using fast 3D laser scanning. Nature Methods 4: 73-79.
2006
* Helmchen F, and Denk W (2005) Deep tissue two-photon microscopy. Nature
Methods, 2(12): 932-940.
* Nimmerjahn A, Kirchhoff F, and Helmchen F (2005) Resting microglial
cells are highly dynamic surveillants of brain parenchyma in vivo.
Science, 308:1314-1318.
* Göbel W, Kerr NDJ, Nimmerjahn A, and Helmchen F (2004) Miniaturized
twp-photon microscope based on a flexible coherent fiber bundle and a
gradient-index lens objective. Optics Letters, 29(21) : 2521-2523.
* Nimmerjahn A, Kirchhoff F, Kerr NDJ, and Helmchen F (2004)
Sulforhodamine 101 as a specific marker of astroglia in the neocortex in
vivo. Nature Methods, 1(1) : 31-37.
