On March 6th, 2020, some volunteered personnel of the Institut Pasteur met and exchanged with students at the high school level in science and technology during a Worldwide event called UniStemDay 2020 (www.unistem.it).
Created by the Interdepartmental Center for Stem Cell Research at the University of Milan (UNISTEM), UniStemDay promotes research in stem cell biology and its applications. Over the years, this commitment to science has spread to all areas of research (UniStemDay movie link). This event, dedicated to high school students, is the largest educational awareness initiative on stem cells and regenerative medicine in Europe. This year, it was organized simultaneously by 101 research institutions in 13 countries and 3 continents, connecting thousands of students in this global event.
For the third edition in France, at the Institut Pasteur, two Investissement d'Avenir (PIA) Projects, the Labex REVIVE and the Institut Convergence INCEPTION gathered efforts to organize a “scientific-like” symposium with and for high school students, in order to promote the biology associated with stem cells and bioinformatics. Through conferences, posters and a speed meeting with more than 130 students (participating high schools: Notre Dame "les oiseaux" (78), Duruy (75) and Lavoisier (75)), researchers and administrators of these two projects have shared their experiences in research, life inside and outside the laboratory, while raising awareness among high school students about the scientific environment in general. The students invested and motivated, presented their work through oral presentations and numerous posters. Evaluated by an experienced (and impressed!) committee, 2 presentations (out of 5) and 2 posters (out of 24) were awarded.
The commitment of the teachers, the inspiration and creativity of the students, as well as the active and passionate participation of the speakers, made this day a success contributing to the influence of the PIA and the Pasteur Institute.
Thank you to everyone involved (teams from REVIVE, INCEPTION, the Bioinformatics HUB, the CERIS and partners (SupBiotech, I-Stem)).
This event was designed and organized by Vania Rosas (project officer LabEx Revive) and Marina Caillet (project officer INCEPTION)
