Alain Blanchard
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alainblanchard.bsky.social
Alain Blanchard
@alainblanchard.bsky.social
Microbiology professor, University of Bordeaux
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?

Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
October 17, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
Very happy to have attended the inaugural lecture of the 20th congress of the @sfmicrobiologie.bsky.social by my former PhD supervisor, @alainblanchard.bsky.social.
Brilliant and moving 🙏🙏🙏
September 24, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
We’ve developed the first-ever method to control nucleic acid activity and gene-expressing synthetic cells with a deeply tissue penetrating alternating magnetic field 🧬 🧪 🧲!!!

Published in *Nature Chemistry*

Led by Ellen Parkes
@syncelleu.bsky.social #chemsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Magnetic activation of spherical nucleic acids enables the remote control of synthetic cells - Nature Chemistry
The programmability of synthetic cells, comprising lipid vesicles that are capable of imitating the structure and function of living cells, facilitates their application as drug delivery devices. Now,...
www.nature.com
September 2, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
❗🦟 Désormais 115 cas autochtones (!) de #chikungunya cette année en France hexagonale, répartis sur 23 foyers dont seuls 6 sont clos.

Et 11 cas de dengue, sur 6 foyers.

Pour la première fois, les régions Grand Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine et Bourgogne-Franche-Comté sont touchées.
August 13, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
🤔Un peu de vulgarisation scientifique pour vous tenir compagnie à la plage ?
😀Voici un article paru dans le dernier numéro de Science et Vie, co-rédigé par Véronique Decroocq, concernant l'importance des espèces sauvages pour la résilience des espèces fruitières cultivées !
😘Bonne lecture !
August 7, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
❗ Encore une décision choc de RFK Jr : les États-Unis arrêtent de financer le développement de plusieurs vaccins à ARN messager (grippe aviaire, grippe porcine... ), qu'importe l'énorme avancée scientifique, et réorientent les fonds vers des technologies "plus sûres".
August 6, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
Article 54 of the 1977 Geneva Convention Protocol I.

1. Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.
July 24, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
Our last work on esca incidence in french vineyards is out in @plantdiseasej.bsky.social ! Identification of ecoclimatic indicators of esca disease through 20 years of large-scale vineyard monitoring in France | Plant Disease apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/...
Identification of ecoclimatic indicators of esca disease through 20 years of large-scale vineyard monitoring in France | Plant Disease
Plant disease incidence depends on host and pathogen phenology, and the abiotic environment. Plant health and productivity are, therefore, strongly influenced by global environmental changes, particul...
apsjournals.apsnet.org
July 17, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Un enfant est mort de la #rougeole à Liverpool, où la couverture vaccinale atteint à peine 75 %.

🏥 17 enfants y ont été hospitalisés depuis le mois de juin, l'hôpital se dit "préoccupé par ce nombre croissant". ⤵️

1/3

www.bbc.com/news/art...
Measles: Child dies at Alder Hey after contracting virus
Seventeen children have been treated at the Liverpool hospital for the virus since June.
www.bbc.com
July 15, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
#Joboffer #CNRS CPJ computational biology in our unit. Deadline for submitting your application is July 14. See details below. Come to join us!

@univparissaclay.bsky.social @cea.fr @genopole.bsky.social
📢 #Joboffer! We are seeking candidates in bioinformatics/computational biology for a CNRS Tenure-Track position (Junior Professor Chair) for Modeling and Learning from Protein Function to Microbial Communities
www.sfbi.fr/emplois/offr...

@univparissaclay.bsky.social @cea.fr @genopole.bsky.social
CNRS Junior Professor Chair (CPJ) in computational biology | SFBI Société Française de Bioinformatique
Emploi en bioinformatique à Évry Tenure Track Autre
www.sfbi.fr
July 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
[RDV 16h !] Les travaux révolutionnaires de la biochimiste #KatalinKariko ont ouvert la voie à l’utilisation thérapeutique de l’ARNm. 1er cas mondialement reconnu : celui des vaccins anti-CoVid tinyurl.com/2yjnojoe Nous la recevons pour qu'elle nous raconte cette histoire sur @franceculture.fr !
July 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
🌍 [International Relations]
ISVV Summer School is open for registration!
📅 September 15–19, 2025 in Bordeaux
Open to third-year undergraduate, master's (1st and 2nd year), and PhD students with academic backgrounds..
👉 Information & Registration : urlr.me/6gRynJ

@univbordeaux.bsky.social
June 30, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
June 26, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
Vaccine skepticism is on the rise, but there are studies that show specific ways to address people’s questions, according to a feature in Nature. #medsky 🧪
How to speak to a vaccine sceptic: research reveals what works
Hesitancy about vaccinations is on the rise, but studies show there are specific ways to address people's questions.
go.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
En s'appuyant sur une nouvelle méthode de datation, une étude met fin à une controverse sur l'origine de la photosynthèse oxygénique. Des microbes marins avaient déjà recours à ce processus il y a au moins 2,87 milliards d’années, soit bien avant "La Grande Oxydation".
Avec Stefan Lalonde 🦠
La photosynthèse existait déjà il y a 2,87 milliards d’années
En s'appuyant sur une nouvelle méthode de datation, une étude met fin à une controverse sur l'origine de la photosynthèse oxygénique. Des microbes marins avaient déjà recours à ce processus il y a au ...
www.radiofrance.fr
June 13, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
Fantastic work by the Sattely group on taxol biosynthesis, featuring a highly innovative application of single nuclei sequencing to find elusive biosynthetic genes 👏
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Discovery of FoTO1 and Taxol genes enables biosynthesis of baccatin III - Nature
An approach that combines single-nucleus RNA sequencing and multiplexed perturbation identifies genes that enable the biosynthesis of direct precursors of the anti-cancer drug Taxol, whose curren...
www.nature.com
June 11, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
Today I am reminded of Vidal Sassoon, who as a 17-year-old apprentice hairdresser spent his evenings beating the shit out of Nazis in East London. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidal_S...
Vidal Sassoon - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
[Formation]
DUAD – Derniers jours pour s’inscrire !
Le Diplôme Universitaire d’Aptitude à la Dégustation (DUAD), une formation universitaire rigoureuse, alliant théorie et pratique, pour mieux comprendre et maîtriser la dégustation.
📅 Inscriptions jusqu’au 10 juin 2025.
Plus d’infos : urlr.me/y9CtwQ
June 6, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
My lab studies bacterial infections. We spend a lot of time looking at (or for) species-specific genetic and genomic databases for hosts and microbes. FlyBase is the best of all—there is literally no comparison. Its existence is under threat. Please donate.
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
Drosophila Genetic Database
The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk
June 3, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. s'en prend désormais aux grandes revues médicales (The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, etc).

Les accusant d'être "corrompues", il songe même à interdire aux chercheurs financés par des agences US d'y publier (!).

www.washingtonpost.c...
May 29, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
🧪 A new method called MagIC-Cryo-EM allows scientists to use powerful #CryoEM techniques to examine proteins that have been difficult to study so far.
The (molecular) shape of you
New methods allow scientists to use a powerful technique known as cryo-EM to examine proteins that have been difficult to study so far.
buff.ly
May 29, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
the French didn't "give" us the Statue of Liberty. It was built with $250,000 of funds raised privately in France and $300,000 of funds raised privately in the United States.
TAPPER: Even if Qatar isn't asking for anything in return now for the jet, that's a bill that could come do. Nobody in the world just gives a $400m jet to be nice.

BESSENT: Well, I don't know Jake. The French gave us the Statue of Liberty.
May 18, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
C'est dans une semaine ! Nous vous attendons nombreux ! 🧠🦀
Au programme 🎯 :
⭐ Mini séminaires interactifs 👩🏼‍🏫
⭐ Visite du labo et de nos activités 🧪
⭐ Nombreux ateliers - Prenez notre place et venez réaliser des expériences 🔬🧪🧬
⭐ Rencontre avec des associations de patients
N'hésitez pas à reposter !
May 10, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Reposted by Alain Blanchard
BILL GATES: “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.”

@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/bdd9...
May 8, 2025 at 12:27 PM