The Team
From left to right - Bianca, Sina, Elodie, Margaux, Alicia, Carmen and Max
Editor-in-Chief
Hi, I’m Elodie Paulet, a Post-doc at Institute Pasteur Paris in the Microbial Individuality and Infection Unit.
In my working hours I’m studying Mycobacterium tuberculosis phenotypic heterogeneity and trying to use it to enhance our therapeutic strategies against tuberculosis.
Outside of my working hours, I’m the editor in chief of the Piplettes magazine, part of ComSciCon France organizing comittee, a sciences, movie and craft enthusiast but mainly an insatiably curious person!
I joined Piplettes to help the great work they were already doing of spreading sciences and helping each and everyone understanding the important work researchers are doing.
Editor-in-Chief
This is Carmen. I’m a veterinarian and currently a Thiiiiiiiird-year PhD student in the Ecology and Emergence of Arthropod-Borne Pathogens lab, where I’m working on the preclinical phase of a dengue virus vaccine.
When I’m not reading papers or running experiments, I really enjoy watching documentaries as well as films about photojournalists and their work.
Since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated by National Geographic documentaries; that’s probably where both my love for animals and for storytelling began. I believe words, images, and visual storytelling have the power to spark curiosity in people. Often, when I watch those programs, I feel inspired by the way they transmit passion for their subjects, and I’d love to do the same: to make others feel excited about the topics that I deeply care about.
As Piplettes Editor-in-Chief, I want to help the journal grow. Not only by increasing submissions and promotion, but also by fostering creative collaborations and reaching a wider audience. At the same time, I see it as a way to grow by applying what I’ve been learning about science communication.
Head of Submissions
I have always been passionate about science communication, from organizing and participating in laboratories with primary schools to taking part in big science festivals in Italy.
As a scientist, I think making our discoveries easily accessible to the general public is an invaluable tool to increase awareness, curiosity and critical thinking, as well as trust in the scientific process. Besides, one might also discover how much science is permeating our lives, it’s everywhere around us!
Piplettes allows the scientists to put their research in a bigger context, and the public to have a glimpse of what is happening behind the benches.
Being Head of Submissions allows me to be in direct contact with the scientists writing the articles, who are passionate about science communication, but also with the specialist editors reviewing and guiding the author. Witnessing and facilitating this interaction and the mentoring between more experienced and early career scientists is the reason why I chose this role.
Head of Copy Editing and Translation
I am a 3rd PhD student in the Unit Antibodies in Therapy and Pathology, Integrative Neurobiology of Cholinergic Systems.
With simpler words, I'm trying to elucidate the role of autoantibodies in psychotic disorders.
Why did I join Piplettes ?
Because I believe that it’s really important to make science available to the public, in order to fight the misinformation and increase the trust in new discoveries.
I've been Head of Copy-Editing and Translation for a Board and a half now.
Why ?
I think that beyond making sure a scientific text is technically accurate, it is also important to ensure that its content is accessible and clear, bridging the gap between the author and their audience
Head of Social Media
Sina is currently taking a well deserved holiday break after havinf brilliantly defended her PhD.
You'll get to know here better when she will return :)
Multimedia Specialist
Through a simple E-Mail I sent in 2022 to my now unit chef, I ended up in Paris without knowing a single word of French (with the exception of “Baguette”, which helped me survive). Thankfully, I got into a lab for structural virology or “VIST” with awesome people and a great opportunity to learn. Now in my third Ph.D. year, I am studying the spike-protein of the Foamy virus family, a sort of retroviral cousin of HIV, using X-ray crystallography and cryoEM.
After spending way too much money on a professional camera and with the love of fiddling with technology and gadgets, I did a little gig outside of Pasteur with my freshly bought camera. During which, one of the former chiefs of editor of Piplettes, Remy, approached me and offered me an opportunity to use it for scientific communication. Since then, I am the multimedia specialist responsible for making the crisp photos and interviews you can see on our website today!
Head of Illustration and Webdesign
Hi :)
I'm a Postdoc working on host-pathogen interactions between us humans and Mycobacterium tuberculosis aka 1st serial killer in the world.
I joined Piplettes first because I wanted to promote science communication in a looser and more approachable way. I often feel like the only side of science we see is through the prism of classic scientific articles and it doesn’t always tell what it truly is to do science on an everyday basis.
I mean.. Don't get me wrong. I love reading a very nice scientific article and be like : “Waaa, that is beautiful! The experiments, the storytelling, the amazing way how bacteria work ?"
And to help promoting the beautiful way everything around us works very smoothly thanks to biology, I've chosen to be volunteering as Head of Illustration and Webdesign.
Are you familiar with this saying : “A picture is worth a thousand words” ?
Well, that is exactly why I’ve chosen this position.
I believe that through creating esthetically pleasing and pedagogical contents, you can help non-scientific people to actually understand and love the science weirdness we’re all working on.
And honestly, sometimes, I just prefer let loose by creating nice schematics for a presentation storytelling than working on Mycobacterium tuberculosis inside the BSL3 ahah !
4rd Editorial Board (2024-2025)
In 2024, PhD students Claire Lavergne as Editor-in-Chief, Bianca Slivinschi as Head of Submissions, Hiba Belkadi as Head of Website and Illustrations, Nicole Bertola as Head of Copy Editing and Translation, Aline Grata as Head of Social Media and Maximilian Mannheim oversaw the development of Piplettes.
3rd Editorial Board (2023-2024)
In 2023, PhD students Tom Cumming as Editor-in-Chief, Gastón Rijo de León as Head of Submissions, Maite Freire Delgado as Head of Website and Illustrations, Nicole Bertola as Head of Copy Editing and Translation, and Remigiusz Walocha as Head of Social Media oversaw the development of Piplettes.
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2nd Editorial Board (2022-2023)
In 2022, PhD students Anqi Zhou, Amandine Maire, Devon Conti, Daniela Gaspar Santos, and Antonin Verdier continued Piplettes
Founding Team and 1st Editorial Board (2021-2022)
As PhD students from Institut Pasteur, Miruna Costreie, Chiara Figazzolo, Maria Llach Pou, and Camille Thiberge launched Piplettes in September 2021 as the first student-lead science communication platform at Institut Pasteur. The idea of the project emerged in the dorms of Cité Universitaire, while the name came to life during scientific experiments in the cell culture room. Merging four very different personalities with a passion for science communication, the founding team established the pipeline for the editorial process and published the first interviews and articles. During this time they also built a solid collaboration with the Educational Department and Direction of Communication at the Institut, as well as with ComSciCon France and students at the Paris Art School.
Thank you!
The Piplettes team is extremely grateful to all those who have contributed to this project.
For their constant support, help and articipation in the project since its inception, the team would like to thank the Head of the Graduate Office Dr Deshmukh Gopaul, the Dean of the PPU program Dr Cecilia Patitucci, the former Deans of the PPU program Dr Susanna Celli and Dr Nathalie Pardigon, and the Director of the Education Department Dr Monica Sala.
For their positive appreciation of Piplettes, the their constructive feedback, their collaboration, and assistance in setting up the project, the Piplettes team thanks the entire Communication Department, namely editorial managers Eliza Jones and Aurélien Coustillac, web team manager Hervé Bichot, Institut Pasteur communications manager Florence Percie du Sert and director of communications - scientific mediation Dr Jean-François Chambon. For their artistic contribution and logo design, the Piplettes team would like to thank Alba Llach Pou and Mălin Neamțu.
For the use of their network, the Piplettes team thanks the Department of Education, the PPU Committee, StaPa, Dr Mariana Mesel-Lemoine and MAASCC.
Finally, the Piplettes team would like to extend special thanks to all the first authors (Courtney Thomas, Olivier Postal, Dr Anaïs Chapel, Maylis Layan), specialist editors (Dr Jake Wintermute, Prof Hervé Bourhy, Dr Sarah Temmam, Dr Marco Vignuzzi, Prof Dominique Franco), copy-editors (Dr Cassandra Koh, Kyrie Grasekamp, Elsa Charifou, Jang-Mi Kim), translators (Yann Aquino, Enzo Peroni, Marion Rincel, Emile Auria) and illustrators (Alicia Calvo Villamanan, Sunny Pydugadu) for agreeing to help produce the pilot issue. Piplettes would not have been possible without them!