Testimonials from Imagine alumni

Since its creation, the Institute for Genetic Diseases, Imagine, has welcomed students who are involved in research or bio-entrepreneurship. Discover their testimony.

Education

 

Clarisse GANIER, PhD

Clarisse Garnier

Research Associate 

Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine | Prof. Fiona Watt Lab 

King’s College London | 28th Floor | Tower Wing Guy’s Campus

Great Maze Pond | London SE1 9RT

"I am writing about Institut Imagine as a former Masters student then PhD student at Imagine Institute (from January 2015 to November 2018). I have also been president of the Young Researchers Association (YR2I) for 2 years (from July 2016 to September 2018) as well as a student representative during my last year. 

Firstly, I would like to say that Imagine is a young and dynamic center, open to new projects. Indeed, every year the Institute supports the Young Researchers Association projects and contributes financially to their scientific and social activities. The Institute also helps to set up sports activities via the Imagine Sport Association (ISA) open to everyone. 

What I have always really liked since the beginning is that Imagine is a place where research and care interact, which helps raise researchers’ awareness on the importance of their research and simplifies access to patient samples. Imagine is made up of more than 20 competent research teams that are open to collaborations. 18 core facilities covering several fields are also available to researchers and provide expertise. 

It is thanks to this cooperation between research teams and the scientific stimulation at Imagine that I decided to continue my PhD experience with a post-doc in academic research in the Center for Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine at King’s College London, in England.

For me, Imagine is a great place to spend time, study and work. It is a young and ambitious institute, which will still develop a lot and will have even more to offer in the future

E-mail: ganier.clarisse@gmail.com / clarisse.ganier@kcl.ac.uk

Website: King’s College London | Wattlab 

 

Julien Ettersperger, PhD

 

Julien Ettersperger

Head of the Biotherapy department at Medicen

Bioentrepreneur Masters in 2016

PhD student at Imagine

Creator and 1st president of the Young Researcher's Association of Imagine Institute (YR2I)

Créateur et 1er président de l'association Young Researcher of Imagine Institute (YR2I)

"During my studies, I had the chance to benefit from all the opportunities that Imagine Institute offered me. I did my PhD in Dr Nadine Cerf-Bensussan’s research laboratory of intestinal immunity, leading to the publication of our work in the journal Immunity, one of the best in its field. During my PhD, I was also able to take part in the establishment of the Imagine PhD student association as founding president. To set up the 1st Young Researchers Congress, a large number of people had to be convinced and motivated. I am happy to see that the association is now one of the pillars of Imagine Institute and that it is continuing to expand.

After my PhD, I was part of the first class in the “bioentrepreneurs” Masters program, created in 2016 by the Ecole polytechnique, HEC Paris, Paris Descartes University and Imagine Institute, with the aim of training entrepreneurs capable of transforming scientific value into economic value through the creation of startups. Indeed, during my PhD I had decided not to do a post-doc. I wanted to discover another side of the medical world, because even though research is essential, research alone is not enough for therapeutic solutions to emerge. It is necessary to add “business” skills to it. This high quality training helped me discover another ecosystem, network and become versatile by developing both scientific and business skills. This versatility is needed to develop medical innovations from research laboratories in innovative therapies for patients.

Today, with hindsight and especially the opinion of others, I fully realize the high level of research conducted at Imagine and the real asset to my career. Imagine offers stimulating surroundings for young researchers, particularly with leading core facilities close to laboratories to conduct excellent research in an environment combining academics, clinicians and entrepreneurs»

Flavia Guillem, PhD

Flavia Guillem

Digital R&D project manager at IPSEN / CPP3 member île de France

Post-doc from June 2012 to December 2017 at Imagine

Board member of the Young Researcher's Association of Imagine (YR2I)

 

"For me, Institut Imagine is an exceptional setting for scientific research: the institute has a wide range of latest generation core facilities with competent staff carrying out innovative and high quality scientific experiments. The building is very well set up and arranged in a way to transform communication between different players in science and patients. It allows a hybridization of ideas and skills useful in advancing discoveries. Thanks to my work as a researcher at Imagine Institute for 5 years and to the many connections that I made, I carried out quality research work with brilliant colleagues and I discovered the clinical side of research, which has become a new passion and my new job"