Programme

Jeudi 19 janvier

9:00-9:30 — Welcome

Dans cette session de mise en perspective historique, les conférences seront en français.

9:30-10:15 — Maxime Schwartz, ancien directeur de l’Institut Pasteur. Louis Pasteur et l‘ENS.

Dans sa conférence inaugurale en hommage à Louis Pasteur, Maxime Schwartz mettra en relief les liens privilégiés de Pasteur avec l’École au cours de sa carrière.

10:15-10:45 — Muriel Le Roux, CNRS, Institut d’histoire moderne et contemporaine (IHMC), département d’histoire de l’ENS|PSL. Être chimiste des substances naturelles (1960 à nos jours) : merci Pasteur !

11:00-14:00 — Visites des collections de l‘ENS qui gardent trace de la mémoire de Louis Pasteur.

12:00-14:00 — Lunch

In the next three sessions, research conferences in chemistry and biology will be given in English.

14:00-15:00 — Ben Feringa, Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of Groningen, Stratingh Institute for Chemistry. The Joy of Discovery.

In recognition of his groundbreaking achievements in synthetic chemistry and nanotechnology, Ben Feringa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016 for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.

15:00-15:30 — Damien Baigl, Professor of Chemistry, laboratoire PASTEUR, département de chimie de l’ENS|PSL. Synthetic self-assembly with life-like properties.

15:30-16:00 — Alice Lebreton, INRAE, Institut de biologie de l’École normale supérieure (IBENS), département de biologie de l’ENS|PSL. Shedding light on bacterial intracellular lifestyles with chemobiology approaches.

16:30-17:30 — Petra Schwille, Professor of Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry (Martinsried). Life as a matter of function.

A world-renowned expert in synthetic biology, Petra Schwille understands life as an organizational form of matter that is primarily distinguished by a set of key functions. In this perspective, her recent work focuses on the reconstitution of basic features of one of life’s most central features, self-division, in protocells compartments.

17:30-18:00 — Damien Laage, CNRS, laboratoire PASTEUR, département de chimie de l’ENS|PSL. Origins and requirements of life: a theoretical chemistry perspective.

18:00-18:30 — Clotilde Policar, Professor of Chemistry, Laboratoire des biomolécules (LBM), département de chimie de l’ENS|PSL. Inorganic chemistry in cells.

Vendredi 20 janvier

9:00-10:00 — Lia Addadi, Professor of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute. Biomineralization and pathological crystallizations under the auspices of Louis Pasteur.

Lia Addadi‘s seminal work on biomineralisation and crystal formation at biological interfaces represents a perfect illustration of the fertile progeny of Pasteur’s landmark work on tartrates and of the interest in fermentations and living processes that ensued.

10:00-10:30 — Andrew Griffiths, Professor at ESPCI|PSL, laboratoire de Biochimie et unité Chimie, biologie et innovation. Emergent fitness and ecological dynamics of compartmentalized autocatalytic chemical reactions.

11:00-12:00 — Andrew Knoll, Professor of Earth Sciences, Harvard University. Bacteria in the Earth System.

One of the best experts in biogeochemistry, paleoecology and biomineralization processes, Andrew knoll will shed light on the contribution of microorganisms, through their metabolisms, to the major geochemical cycles: how our planet became Earth under the influence of living organisms.

12:00-12:30 — Chris Bowler, CNRS, Institut de biologie de l’École normale supérieure (IBENS), département de biologie de l’ENS|PSL. The immense invisible world of ocean microbes.

12:30-14:30 — Lunch

14:30-15:30 — Melissa Moore, Chief Scientific Officer, Emeritus, of Moderna. mRNA as Medicine: COVID-19 Vaccine and Beyond.

During her academic career, Melissa Moore’s discoveries on RNA splicing have established her as a central figure in the field. Her talk will offer a dive into the modern version of the Pasteurian experience of developing a new type of vaccine, and the transition from an academic laboratory to the challenges of clinical research — made critical by the pandemic emergency.

15:30-16:00 — Hélène Morlon, CNRS, Institut de biologie de l’École normale supérieure (IBENS), département de biologie de l’ENS|PSL. Evolutionary origin and geographic distribution of mammalian coronaviruses.

16:30-17:00 — Ludovic Jullien, Professor of Chemistry, laboratoire PASTEUR, département de chimie de l’ENS|PSL. Chemical dynamics.

17:00-18:30 — Round table discussion chaired by Stéphanie Ruphy, Professor of Philosophy of Science, département de philosophie de l’ENS|PSL. Beyond Pasteur: dialogue between society and current research in Chemistry and Biology.

Melissa Moore, Lia Addadi and Andrew Knoll will be joined in this discussion by two students from the chemistry and biology departments of ENS, Naama Drahy and Erwan Sallard.

Louis Pasteur à l’ENS : rencontre entre chimie et biologie