As announced in yesterday's seminar,
@VignuzziLab
is packing up its pipettes and taking on a new continent! As of September 2022, Vignuzzi Lab Asia will open its doors at A*Star Infectious Disease Labs in beautiful Singapore!
Thrilled to see RNA vaccines roll out across Europe today! Turning ideas into reality takes time & lots of basic research. 20 years ago, my PhD was about using RNA instead of DNA as vaccines, which was then considered a cute idea that could never work
Just handed in my badge. No longer a Pasteurian. Thank you
@institutpasteur
for my graduate studies and first lab as PI. And to this wonderful scientist, my MSc PhD mentor Sylvie van der Werf, who took a chance on a foreign student with no lab experience & started me on my path.
Preparing for future pandemics will need to address 7 RNA virus families in the NIAID AViDD centers. Many of which will also be studied at
@idlabs_astar
#liveICAR2022
Awwwโฆphoto of my dad sending me off in the summer of 95 to chase my dreams of becoming a virologist. His vertical cucumber garden behind us. I packed my life in a box, still in their basement, to move to Paris and try to get into a masterโs program. 1 million years ago today!
Happy
#LGBTQSTEMDay
to my rainbow tribe out there! I support each of you, I see YOU, and I see each time you did not get a boost in your career b/c you didn't fit the mold.
Celebrate! pic: a non-binary me marching in Pride 26 years ago for my right to a spot on that wedding cake!
Alas the time has come to bid an official farewell and congratulations to Bjรถrn โฆ
@_b_meyer
โฉ who is leaving โฆ
@VignuzziLab
โฉ to start his own lab and faculty position at the University of Magdeburg next month! Bravo Bjรถrn!!!
Like so many virology labs now, I post this pic & express my love & admiration for my labmates. Early mornings late nights. Smiles & enthusiasm even as another long holiday weekend sneaks past them. & in between incubations they hone their skills at Rochambeau.
#TeamScissors
One last picโฆbravo to
@A__Aicha
for winning the graduate student best oral presentation award!
#CSV2022
chapeau Aรฏcha, meilleur prรฉsentation orale de la confรฉrence donnรฉe par un(e) doctorant(e)
My lectures this week on Virus Evolution & on LGBT issues in academia in front of an eager, enlightened Masters group of gen Z students rekindled my love for teaching after my CoV pandemic burnout. Thank you University of Montpellier!
This is still happening. Remind yourself that if you think being lgbt is no longer an issue in your mind or for those around you, your bubble is too small. ๐
Normunds Kindzulis, a victim of the homophobic arson attack in Latvia last week, has succumbed to his injuries. Our deepest condolences to his partner and family, and to all our community in Latvia. ๐ค
I'm having one of those mornings where you realize that most of your life as a PI is spent writing reports or applications or proposals, but not in any productive way...just a Kafka-esque bureaucratic loop to fit into a template...
Vero
@verorezelj
had a lot of success publishing this year, but this is the big baby she's worked on since joining our lab. A big collab with
@SalehLabParis
& other
@institutpasteur
teams, & L Brodsky lab (Israel)
shareable link:
For anyone who needs a story with a happy ending, if you want to have faith in humanity, here's a horrible-to-wonderful story that's happened to us: it's long, but worth the read, grab a coffee...
Wasn't that long ago! I recall being 'validated' as a teenager that I didn't have a mental disorder...but just a horrible, sinful, shameful secret...let's keep moving the world towards accepting and embracing. Keep at it, be proud!
Exactly 30 years ago today the
@WHO
declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder. Thatโs why today is
#IDAHOBIT
, to remind us of how far we have come but also how much work is left to do.
#IDAHOBIT2020
Today in the halls of
@institutpasteur
Nevan Krogan
@KroganLab
received the Legion of Honour, Franceโs highest award to a civilian for his work on promoting international collaboration, especially between France and USA during the Covid crisis.
Iโm glowing over the fact that I can travel internationally for the first time in 19 months since Covid jailed me in France! Going to visit colleagues all over NYC and giving a seminar at U of Rochester!
The only safe way I can give
@verorezelj
the hug she deserves, Vero leaves her life as postdoc today to begin her career as Scientist at Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the Netherlands. Congratulations for your success! You are an amazing person and scientist!
It's an honour to receive this award and support, to help launch my new lab in the best place in the world to do science!
@idlabs_astar
Come join us and innovate science and technology at
@astar_research
Singapore!
Proud to announce
@VignuzziLab
, ID Labs, Snr PI, has been awarded the prestigious
#NRF
Singapore grant for his project.
Congratulations to Prof Marco Vignuzzi and his team every success in their research!
#ASTARIDLabs
#EnhancingLives
Off to Jyvรคskylรค Finland today to serve as External Opponent for a PhD defense from Varpu Marjomรคkiโs lab. As Iโm expected to challenge her on everything she knows for several hours, I brought her La Durรฉe macaroons to soften the blow. Sheโs done cool work. Wonโt be a problem.
Please RT. Junior Postdoc position available in my lab to develop recombinant RNA virus vaccines. Experience required in vaccinology and RNA viruses and molecular cloning.
340 attendees at the Canadian Society for Virology meeting this year and
@CanSocVirol
achieved a mind blowing feat with help from its sponsors: every postdoc fellow and graduate student received a travel award. Every single one!!
#CSV2022
๐จ๐ฆ Sharing ๐จ๐ฆ is ๐จ๐ฆ Caring ๐จ๐ฆ
๐...in my case, as a foreign student in Paris, away from my life in northern Ontario, I recall the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and 'home' when I walked into the -30 C freezer for the first time. From then on, I'd sneak off to the -30 C every time I needed a hug from mom.
Happy holidays to everyone! As 2021 winds down with some changes on the horizon for Vignuzzi lab, I'll be reflecting on the wonderful people that made up our lab over the years - watch this space. For now, enjoy this memory of one of my favorite places on earth any guesses?
It does bother me that I was Jakeโs age over 20 years ago and that younger people in STEM are still struggling with the same worries. It gets better applies here too. But any of you out there, reach out to me if you need reassurance, venting or advice.
Sometimes I get stressed when I post things that are particularly gay or โunprofessionalโ because I fear what the STEM community will think. But, if I sanitize myself for my straight STEM followers Iโm 1) not being authentic and 2) adding to heteronormativity in STEM.
#GayInSTEM
I'm so proud of them for reaching deep to pull out nightmares and ghosts in front of stone faced authority, tell their story one last time, to release their demons. Judge's final words: I cannot wait to see you marry each other. Meet our newest Europeans: David and Riyadh!
Oh my gawd!!! Gonzaloโs leaving the nest to start his own lab in Pasteur Institute of Montevideo
@IPMontevideo
@gonzamoratorio
I canโt say enough how great these years have been with you here!
Last chance to join our team! Postdoc position in RNA vaccines and virology in our group, closing soon. Free pugs, obviously. Info on project, salary and application through the ASTAR website:
Maria-Carla Saleh,
@VignuzziLab
and colleagues
@institutpasteur
describe the defective viral genomes arising during
#CHIKV
infection in vitro in mammalian and mosquito cells, and in vivo in experimentally infected
#Aedes
aegypti mosquitoes
With the big jump in coronavirus cases, the WHO referral lab at Pasteur is swamped. Techs & engineers from across campus have been asked to help out. Thank you to our Thomas Vallet and Marie-Line Joffret for shifting 50% of their activities to test patient samples.
Bologna. I've been here 3 times on my birthday. June 22 1972, at birth. '95 at 23 & as life would have it, tonight at 46. My comet has a 23 yr orbit. As an immigrant child never sure of where is home, this feels reassuring. Patterns bring comfort! but where is home? everywhere!?
My first official seminar as a new PI at
@idlabs_astar
! Join me in person at DukeNUS Medical School
@dukenus
, where I hope to make new friends and collaborators as my lab grows over the next months!
Here goes! Join me tomorrow in trying to summarize the last two decades of my life in the lab, and the two dozen smiles that carried me through that time.
you can sign up here to follow the talk from afar:
@idlabs_astar
welcomes Dr Marco Vignuzzi as our newest PI! A world-leading virologist, his research interests has led him to join us to develop new anti-viral approaches.
To read more click:
IDL webpage:
@VignuzziLab
#ASTARIDlabs
Sad to hear about Anthony Bourdain,
@VignuzziLab
&
@SalehLabParis
spent a few days with him at our houses in Noyers, Burgundy filming No Reservations - enjoying Goisot wine, teaching him of viruses, mosquitoes & Drosophila, comparing travel stories. He was genuine in person.
So proud of
@gonzamoratorio
, who is being honored as a key person to shape science and health in 2020. He helped protect his whole country from the worst of COVID. Intelligence. Teamwork. Compassion. Gonzalo.
Doctorante Aรฏcha Sow
@A__Aicha
de lโinstitut Armand Frappier nous prรฉsente ses travaux sur le dรฉveloppement dโun modรจle dโinfection en se servant du poisson zรจbre pour รฉtudier lโinfection du virus Zika et ses consรฉquences sur le dรฉveloppement neurologique du poisson.
#CSV2022
Congratulations Dr. Alice Mac Kain. She defended her PhD today. Alice was Maรซl Bessaudโs student who joined our lab when his WHO center for enteroviruses fused with my group. Sheโll stay on in 2022 as a postdoc.
Happy to share the 4th publication from our fantastic collaboration with UCSF
@QBI_UCSF
. Congratulations to all authors and our own co-first author
@verorezelj
! An ultrapotent synthetic nanobody neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 by stabilizing inactive Spike
Aumentรณ 45% la inscripciรณn a Facultad de Ciencias
@FcienUdelar
@Udelaruy
Son muchas/os jรณvenes q eligieron el camino de la ciencia en Uruguay. Para todas/os ellas/os, estamos a las รณrdenes para lo que necesiten en este hermoso camino
Nuestras puertas siempre abiertas
#Emoci
รณn
Bravo! I never thought Iโd see this day. That my long time home Institut Pasteur openly recognizes and celebrates its LGBT population. Thank you for this.
๐ Pour le
#MoisDesFiert
รฉs, lโInstitut Pasteur sโengage plus que jamais en faveur de la diversitรฉ et de lโinclusion.
Notre logo brille aux couleurs de l'arc-en-ciel ๐
Nos engagements
#Diversit
รฉEtInclusion โ๏ธ
1/2
We are now entering that part of the solar calendar when there will be much less science and much more sun time. Pencils down, pool noodles up. See you in September.
Last post from EU. Family is on board, Iโm listing gyms and membership benefits near home and lab, Pods is mapping craft coffee houses and concept stores across River Valley and pug is dreaming about Autumn Festival Moon Cakes. Good night Paris.
Today, my own PhD supervisor, now colleague & friend, Prof Sylvie van der Werf receives the Duquesne prize. >30 yrs dedicated to basic science, teaching & public health, working first on picornaviruses, then influenza & coronas. Congratulations!
Preparing for the impending separation after 20 years of sharing the same lab benches and reagents. itโs gonna take a lot of wine. Cheers from the science twins Mary Carl and Mary Marc aka
@SalehLabParis
&
@VignuzziLab
a monumental day! On Jan 2 2022 I interviewed for a new home with
@idlabs_astar
โฆ we end our last working day Dec 30 with our first virus grown in labโฆ chikungunya ! Thank you
@darylaw94
@Joisse_K
for getting our lab up and running!
@VignuzziLab
is open for business!
You think youโre tough? Meet Prof. Upik Kesumawati from IPB University in Indonesia. She collects ticks off of wild tigers. Tick-borne disease surveillance is a One Health Ecology approach.
Canadaโs biggest virology nerd is ready, first in line, first in show! Letโs go!!
@CanSocVirol
#CSV2022
#VirologyFTW
โฆ wait, did they give me a fake address, again? ๐ญ
It's a pleasure & honour to give a talk to our campus this afternoon at the Institut Pasteur Scientific Council's monthly conference. I look forward to seeing my colleagues in person and walking you through the >20 students and postdocs that have come through my lab since day 1.
My first week at
@idlabs_astar
has been great. Right now, the three of us on site are mostly doing grant writing and protocol approvals, with number 4 getting ready to leave Mexico for Singapore!
This paper means a lot to me. Itโs my 100th publication as Vignuzzi Lab Paris comes to a close, our PhD student Aliceโs big paper and Ferdinandโs first senior author paper. Congratulations Ferdi and all collaborators.
Our
#SARSCoV2
ISG
#CRISPR
screen paper is finally out in
@NatureComms
! So happy to see the final product of my "lockdown project". It took us a year of peer review to get there- worth it though as we made significant improvements to the story. Thread ๐งต๐ฝ
Our newest lab member is now on his way over from Riyadh to join us on the new adventure. Everyone welcome Fadi Alnaji, previously from
@_chris_brooke
and
@evanslabuk
labs, coming to help
@idlabs_astar
build up its virus evolution and bioinformatics! Welcome
@biofadialnaji
!
Final day of VignuzziLab Paris, stuck at check-in due to a paperwork malfunction, will board the plane tomorrow...and Steph is turning off the lights on one of the happiest places to do science, just as she turned the lights on 14 years ago! Steph is the best!!!
Itโs far too late to welcome him to our lab, but before he returns home, this is Alvaro Fajardo who traded summer in Uruguay for transportation strikes in Parisian winter. Heโs another link n the chain that binds VignuzziLab to Uruguayan virology for life!
March 31 is the International Transgender Day of Visibility.
My lab and I are proud of all of you as you find, build and thrive in your identity as a person and scientist, and role model to the next generation.
Since our lab has just turned 10 years old this month! Throw back to the first months when it was just me,
@allhenatwitting
and
@verseau281
and Marta! 10 more years!
Is there anything more beautiful and satisfying as full CPE (cytopathic effect) when you take your cells to the light and pray that itโs there?! Right
@PappHenrietta12
?
#lovevirology
Happy to announce that our work on defective viral genomes as a potential therapeutic against virus infection will be further developed by Meletios Therapeutics
@meletios_tx
to tackle neglected tropical infectious diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses!
There's always room for more diversity and our lab
@VignuzziLab
has its good share of
#LGBTscience
working on viral evolution. Door is open. All are welcome here. Xo
Time to sign off from day1 hosting Biotweeps & get some sleep. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have! Keep boosting
#LGBTscience
visibility via the hashtag and I'll retweet tomorrow. Meanwhile, if you fancy following a bi botanist, I'm usually based at
@CanopyRobin
๐ฑ๐ณ๏ธโ๐
My babies are coming!!! Over 800 samples and molecules, research tools, made by around 50 lab members over thirteen years, the last bits of our paris lab are all happily flying to their new home in Singapore. Never been more excited for a plane to arrive!!
Today marks T-125 days to the end of VignuzziLabParis! Today's activity was clearing out file folders and I came across the medal and diploma my lab members made for me when I got tenure after being a G5 junior group. Nostalgic to see the signatures of so many trainees.
Thank you
@SalehLabParis
for this meme. Reminding us that not all genetic engineering ends results in useful tools like the Drosophila model. Some result in perfection.
This is hilarious. For all the people coming to my lab without a French speaking background, and all the francophones that try to rationally explain how French comes together - this guy sums it up! Too funny.
Is it weird? Iโm cleaning out stuff left behind in old filing cabinets but Iโm having motherly issues throwing away things that belonged to my children?
@gonzamoratorio
what should I do? Garbage? Scrapbook? eBay? Time capsule and bury it?
Are you a virologist in a low to middle income country, hoping to attend the
@AmerSocVirol
ASV2024 meeting in Columbus, Ohio from June 24-28?
Apply for an ASV Global Scholar Travel Award here, applications open Nov 1-30:
Itโs kind of fun to watch the vultures descend upon our lab! Actually, nice to know our stuff will find new homes and new experiments! Farewell Vignuzzi Lab kits and plastics!
Itโs Dinh Tranโs
@qdinhtran
last day in Europe! Our VignuzziLab Paris PhD student will join VignuzziLab Singapore as a postdoc tomorrow! See you soon Dinh!! Welcome to Singapore!