Science at UM [S02-ep01]: Nano-Robot, 30 years of LIRMM, and Litternature

[Podcast] - Published on September 22, 2022 in Science-Society

This week on A l’UM la science, Gaëtan Bellot from CBS talks to us about a nano-robot designed entirely from DNA. Our report will then take you to the microelectronics department at LIRMM, where Laurent Latorre is preparing for the laboratory's 30th anniversary. Finally, Lucas Aubouin from the scientific culture department will tell you about the Litternature project.

It's back to school time for A l'UM la science, and to get the year off to a good start, we invite you to push the limits of your imagination with a study at the frontiers of science fiction. Okay, the formula sounds very "cliché," but four words will be enough to convince you: DNA, robot, cellular mechanics... In a writing workshop, I guarantee you, that's Bradbury material! But here we're not talking about literature, we're talking about science and a nano-robot built entirely from DNA to study, at the cellular level, the mechanical forces involved in many biological and pathological processes in the human body. Gaëtan Bellot is a researcher at the Center for Structural Biology in Montpellier (CBS). The work he has carried out with his team of researchers fromInserm, CNRS, and the University of Montpellier has been published inNature Communication.

In the second part of the program, we take you to LIRMM, Montpellier's computer science, robotics, and microelectronics laboratory, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To mark the occasion, it will open its doors to the public on October 8, with tours and demonstrations by researchers on the program.  To give you a taste of what's to come, we are offering a series of three reports, and this week Laurent Latorre takes you on a tour of the microelectronics department.

Finally, Lucas Aubouin will join us at the end of the program to talk about the latest project from the UM's scientific culture department in partnership with the region's media libraries. Litternature, as the project is called, invites young naturalists to compile an inventory of the biodiversity hidden in children's literature. From September 20 to October 16, an exhibition is also on display at the Emile Zola media library.

At UM Science, you have the program, so let's get started!

Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Director: Bruno Bertrand

Listen to the program “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM, Innovation, Research, Science, Technology