Retrospective – The DIM ELICIT Colloquium : Innovative Technologies to fight SARS-Cov-2

Retrospective – DIM ELICIT Colloquium

Organized at the Institut Pierre-Gilles de Gennes and retransmitted by videoconference via Zoom on January 20, 2021, the DIM ELICIT colloquium “Innovative technologies to Fight SARS-CoV-2” brought together more than 130 participants connected worldwide at the height of the morning.

It illustrated innovative research and research applications dealing with covid19 crisis within the core technologies supported by DIM ELICIT, including microfluidics, biophotonics and image analysis, but also other cutting-edge technologies such as electron microscopy or artificial intelligence.

Introduced by Gabrielle Costa, head of the research and scientific culture department of the Ile-de-France region, this colloquium was split in two parts. The presentations of the first half mainly adressed covid-19 innovative diagnosis, and during the second half we learned more about innovative research on the physiopathogeny of the disease and on drug discovery.

Franck Molina (CNRS/Alcediag) and Patrick Tabeling (ESPCI) presented their recent EasyCoV and COVIDISC screening tests. Lisa Chakrabarti (Institut Pasteur) and Yannick Schwab (EMBL) described their research results on the pathophysiology of the virus in the respiratory tract and the replication cycle of the virus, respectively.

Two representatives from companies established in the Ile-de-France region, Alexandra Martin (Stilla Technologies) and Maximilien Levesque (Aqemia) also spoke during the morning to share their contributions in the fight against covid19. They discussed on the one hand the techniques of “group testing” via digital PCR and on the other hand the discovery of new drugs assisted by AI and theoretical physics.

In addition, during flash presentations sessions, an overview of the progress of the projects selected in the framework of the special call for projects SARS-CoV-2 of the DIM ELICIT was offered by the principal investigators: Marco Mendoza (Genoscope), Zoher Gueroui (ENS), Nathalie Sauvonnet (Institut Pasteur), Vincent CROQUETTE (ENS) and Jean-Baptiste Masson (Institut Pasteur).

One of the objectives of the DIM ELICIT is to strengthen interactions between researchers from different scientific communities. This colloquium demonstrated this diversity, on the topical theme of the covid-19 crisis.

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We will publish video excerpts from the colloquium very soon! Follow us on our social networks so you don’t miss anything!