Sidaction donors discover CIRI with the LP2L team

Every year, Sidaction organizes a laboratory visit for its donors. A research team is invited to open its doors and give an insight into the world of research, particularly in the field of HIV. This year, CIRI and the LP2L team welcomed donors from the Lyon area to their laboratory on Thursday October 12.

Presentation of a research project by Alexandre Legrand. Photo credit: Sidaction

The evening began with short presentations by Jennifer Pasquier about Sidaction, then by Andrea Cimarelli about the ENS de Lyon and CIRI. Lucie Etienne then presented the HIV research conducted by the LP2L team. To round off this introductory phase, Alexandre Legrand and Charlotte Vadon, PhD students, presented their current research projects.

Laboratory visit and demonstration of manipulation under safety weighing cabinets, by Amandine Le Corf, Rémi Demeure and Séverine Deymier. Photo credit: Sidaction

Donors were then given a hands-on tour of the laboratories. Members of the LP2L team were involved in showing them around the premises, and even letting them handle the equipment. The program included tours of labs P2 and P3, the bioinformatics section, banana DNA extraction, and discovery of cutting-edge tools such as FACS and the confocal fluorescence microscope. This initiative was made possible thanks to the collaboration of the SFR BioSciences flow cytometry platform and PLATIM. 

LP2L team members report the enthusiasm of visitors during these laboratory visits. The conversation continued over cocktails and research posters. Donors were able to ask students, engineers and researchers all their questions. 

The evening was clearly a success! The feedback from visitors was very positive. Very involved, they had many questions, particularly about treatments. They also pointed out that they "hadn't imagined labs like this", a sign of the importance of these public-research encounters. It was also a very positive experience for the team. According to Lucie Etienne, this kind of encounter gives meaning to the research profession, and provides an opportunity for sharing with the public, as well as within the team. The enthusiasm, professionalism and involvement of the young team members was underlined by the donors, the Sidaction team and the rest of the team.

LP2L team. Photo credit: Sidaction.

This team already had a strong link with Sidaction. Andrea Cimarelli and Lucie Etienne have benefited from financial support from Sidaction at key moments in their careers. Currently, Sidaction is funding a 24-month project involving 5 members of their team, as well as the 4-year position of Alexandre Legrand (PhD student). In return, the team contributes to Sidaction's work. Andrea Cimarelli was a member of the organization's Medical and Scientific Committee, and Lucie Etienne is currently a member. She has also written an article for Sidaction's magazine, Transversal, on the place of women in science and research. This laboratory visit strengthens this long-standing association, and paves the way for other potential future collaborations.