"CNRS Cristal collectif" for two CIRI engineers involved in the VIROCRIB project
Emilie laurent, UCBL1 study engineer, and Aurélien Traversier, UCBL1 assistant engineer in Manuel Rosa-Calatrava's team and his Virnext technological research platform at the Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (UMR 5308 CNRS - U1111 INSERM - ENS Lyon - UCBL1), have been awarded the Cristal collectif by the CNRS for their major contributions to the Virocrib national infrastructure dedicated to the screening of antiviral molecules.
The Cristal Collectif recognizes teams of research support staff who have carried out projects of particularly outstanding technical mastery, collective dimension, applications, innovation and outreach. Virocrib is a consortium set up on the initiative of Ancdré Le Bivic and Sylvie Guerder of CNRS Biologie in response to the COVID19 pandemic, to bring together a range of experts, research teams and platforms, and organize a continuum of know-how and resources, with the aim of being better prepared to respond rapidly to future health crises. The challenge is also to better anticipate the emergence of new respiratory viruses.
Emilie laurent and Aurélien traversier have notably contributed to the establishment of a continuum of preclinical in vitro and in vivo infection models, and to the implementation of numerous campaigns to evaluate candidate antiviral molecules against SARS-CoV-2 in infection models of reconstituted human respiratory epithelia cultured in air/liquid interface.
This Cristal is shared with Adeline Danneels, CNRS Assistant Engineer, Audrey Tarricone, CNRS Research Engineer, in the Virologie Moléculaire & Cellulaire team at the Center for Infection & Immunity of Lille (CIIL, CNRS UMR9017 & Inserm U1019, Institut Pasteur de Lille), Nathalie Gros, Ingénieure d'Etudes Hors Classe CNRS and Lisa Morichon, Ingénie d'Etudes CNRS from the CEMIPAI CNRS UAR3725 - Centre d'étude des maladies infectieuses et pharmacologie anti-infectieuses in Montpellier.
This collective crystal was presented on behalf of Antoine Petit, CEO of the CNRS during the CNRS 2024 medal ceremony, Occitanie Est regional delegation, at the Grands Chais estate on Friday November 15, 2024.
To learn more about virocrib: https://www.virocrib.fr/