Science festival 2026 at Institut Imagine

Published on 04.11.2026

Fermentation, the microbiome, DNA, taste, and therapeutic diets: on Saturday, October 3, Institut Imagine invites the public to explore, through food, what research reveals about genetic diseases.

On Saturday, October 3, Institut Imagine opens its doors to the general public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Researchers, physicians, and engineers—along with guests from the culinary world—will offer a fun, hands-on immersion into research on genetic diseases. A series of workshops, laboratory tours, and a virtual-reality experience will be free and open to all, with no reservation required.

This year, the Science Festival, held throughout France, has adopted the theme “Learned Flavors.” At Institut Imagine, cooking becomes a gateway to genetics: the genetics of taste, food allergies and intolerances, hereditary metabolic diseases, and the essential interactions between the microbiome and the immune system.

In France, 64 children are born every day with a genetic disease. Nearly 8,000 different conditions affect more than 3 million people. For many patients, the first clues emerge at mealtimes: a poorly tolerated food, an unexplained reaction, or a diet that becomes a treatment in its own right. This day offers the public a chance to see, understand, and experience the science that supports these journeys.

A day to taste, observe, and understand

Fermentation and the microbiome. Kefir, kombucha, and kimchi are prepared before visitors’ eyes, while microscopes reveal the microorganisms at work. Engineers from the microscopy platform explain how our diet also nourishes the billions of microorganisms living within us—and how this microbiome constantly communicates with our immune system.

“The Mystery Meal”: a diagnostic investigation. A patient develops symptoms after eating a meal. Using a food diary, family tree, test results, and a simplified DNA sequence, participants work in teams to gather clues, identify the food responsible, and trace it back to the gene involved. It is a way to experience the diagnostic process carried out every week in Necker’s clinical departments.

The genetic map of taste. With taste strips in hand, participants compare their perceptions: what tastes bitter to some may be imperceptible to others. Like cilantro, which some people perceive as soapy because of a genetic variation in smell, individual differences take shape in real time on a large collective map.

Molecular cuisine. Spherification, gelling, emulsions, foams: participants transform ordinary ingredients into unexpected textures and discover that cooking means manipulating molecules. Alginate, agar-agar, and lecithin belong to the same families of compounds handled at the lab bench just a few meters away.

Genetics essentials, reimagined through taste

Extract DNA from a banana with your bare hands. A crushed fruit, salt, dish soap, and a little cold alcohol: in less than ten minutes, DNA becomes visible to the naked eye. This simple experiment offers a close encounter with the very molecule Institut Imagine sequences every day to understand, in some cases, the single variation that explains a child’s disease.

Red cabbage as a pH indicator. From juice turning pink in lemon to green in baking soda: participants create their own color chart and discover how the stomach maintains a highly acidic environment to do its job.

Under the microscope. A 400x magnification transforms the ordinary into a cellular landscape. Engineers from the microscopy platform guide the observation and show how these instruments also help researchers better understand what goes wrong in a diseased cell.

The virtual-reality headset. Dive inside a human cell, all the way to the nucleus and the double helix: at this scale, a DNA molecule is as long as an arm.

The “Learned Taster Trail” completes the visit: each workshop stamps a passport, with a diploma and a small surprise at the end.

Behind the scenes of research

Throughout the day, guided tours of the laboratories and the genomics platform will reveal the machines that sequence patients’ DNA, as well as the teams that use them. It is a rare opportunity to step inside an institute where research, care, and innovation advance together to accelerate diagnosis and treatment.

About Institut Imagine

Located on the campus of Necker-Enfants malades hospital, Institut Imagine is a world leader in research, care, and education on genetic diseases. Its distinctive architecture, designed by Jean Nouvel and Bernard Valéro, brings together 1,000 researchers, physicians, research professors, engineers, and healthcare professionals around patients in a single location, with the ambition of accelerating research and diagnostic and therapeutic innovation to change the lives of families affected by genetic diseases. Designated a University Hospital Institute (IHU) in 2011 and 2019 and a Carnot Institute in 2020, Institut Imagine is supported by its six founding members—including AP-HP, Inserm, and Université Paris Cité—as well as private partners and donors. Every day in France, 64 babies are born with a genetic disease. Nearly 8,000 genetic diseases affect more than 3 million people; nearly one in two patients has no diagnosis, and more than 8 in 10 have no dedicated treatment. Faced with this public-health emergency, the challenge is twofold: to diagnose and to cure.

The event page confirms the date, opening hours, theme, and core activities described above.

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