Alain Rousset Awarded for Visionary Investment in the Optics Industry
“It is a real honour for me to receive this award. The photonics, laser and microwave sector in New Aquitaine benefits from world-renowned expertise. It brings together companies, universities and research, technology transfer and training centres around major innovation projects,” said Rousset. “By creating a value chain from technological research to application markets, this particularly dynamic ecosystem is working on the development of laser sources, power lasers, new generation optical fibers, very advanced microwave components, as well as complete systems. It is this entire ecosystem that is now rewarded with this distinction!”
Alain Rousset (right) and Nobel Laureate Gérard Mourou at the awards ceremony (Credit: Gautier DUFAU)
For more than 20 years of strong and enthusiastic support for the advancement of light science and the photonics industry, Alain Rousset, President of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France, received Optica Society’s annual Advocate of Optics award during a ceremony held at the Institut d’Optique Graduate School (IOGS) on 21st November.
The 2018 Nobel Laureate Gérard Mourou, Optica Fellow Pierre Chavel and IOGS directeur général Rémi Carminati were also present at the event to celebrate the vibrant French optics industry.
Rousset was elected President of the Regional Council of Aquitaine in 1998, served on the French National Assembly from 2007 to 2017 and has since been re-elected as President of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Under his leadership, the Bordeaux area has become a thriving scientific and industrial ecosystem.
“Président Rousset has been prescient in his support of the optics industry in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. For more than two decades he has championed the scientific and commercial potential of lasers, photonics and all of the supporting industries that make those technologies possible,” said Elizabeth Rogan, CEO of Optica. “Optica is grateful for his leadership and insight. We look forward to the continued success of the photonics community in Bordeaux, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and in France.”
Following the start of the French Defense department’s “Laser Megajoule” nuclear defense programme in Bordeaux in 1995, Rousset was able to capitalise on this existing optics infrastructure to argue for building an ecosystem and economy around optics and lasers in the region. His vision led to the creation of an IOGS branch in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the laser and microwaves excellence cluster Alpha-RLH, the PETAL laser program and the founding of more than 50 optics-based startups in the Bordeaux area. Under Rousset’s leadership, more than 180 million euros have been invested to develop optics and photonics in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
“President Rousset has been a true advocate for optics and photonics, making Nouvelle-Aquitaine a major player among French regions in the domain and globally increasing French leadership in research and technology,” said IOGS directeur général Rémi Carminati. “His leadership resulted in the establishment of the Institut d’Optique Graduate School branch in the Institut d’Optique d’Aquitaine building.”
Nominated for the award by IOGS and the Alpha-RLH excellence cluster in 2019, the ceremony was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rousset is the 15th recipient of this recognition and the first recipient from France.
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Bone Marrow Technology Set to Improve Anti-Cancer Therapies
The first bone marrow ‘organoids’ displaying key features of human bone marrow and offering potential for multiple anti- cancer drug screening and development of personalised treatments, have been created by research teams from Oxford University and the University of Birmingham.
Subject to patent application filed by University of Birmingham Enterprise, the research also showed that the organoids provide a micro-environment that can accept and support the survival of cells from patients with blood malignancies, including multiple myeloma cells, which are notoriously difficult to maintain outside the human body.
Dr Abdullah Khan, a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Cardiovascular Science and first author of the study, said “Remarkably, we found that the cells in their bone marrow organoids resemble real bone marrow cells not just in terms of their activity and function, but also in their architectural relationships - the cell types ‘self-organise’ and arrange themselves within the organoids just like they do in human bone marrow in the body.”
This life-like architecture enabled the team to study how the cells in the bone marrow interact to support normal blood cell production and how this is disturbed in bone marrow fibrosis (myelofibrosis), where scar tissue builds up in the bone marrow, causing bone marrow failure. Bone marrow fibrosis can develop in patients with certain types of blood cancers and remains incurable.
Senior study author Professor Bethan Psaila, a haematology medical doctor as well as a research Group Leader at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, said “To properly understand how and why blood cancers develop, we need to use experimental systems that closely resemble how real human bone marrow works, which we haven’t really had before. It’s really exciting to now have this terrific system, as finally, we are able to study cancer directly using cells from our patients, rather than relying on animal models or other simpler systems that do not properly show us how the cancer is developing in the bone marrow in actual patients.”
Dr Khan continued: “This is a huge step forward, enabling insights into the growth patterns of cancer cells and potentially a more personalised approach to treatment.
A cross section of a mini bone marrow organoids showing cells that produce blood platelets, in a network of blood vessels. Credit: Dr A Khan, University of Birmingham
We now have a platform that we can use to test drugs on a ‘personalised medicine’ basis. “Having developed and validated the model is the first crucial step; in our ongoing collaborative work we will be working with others to better understand how the bone marrow works in healthy people and what goes wrong when they have blood diseases.”
Dr Psaila added “We hope that this new technique will help accelerate the discovery and testing of new blood cancer treatments, getting improved drugs for our patients to clinical trials faster.”
A study describing the new method has been published in the journal Cancer Discovery.
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Registration now open for Solutions in Science Conference and Exhibition
Registration for the Solutions in Science (SinS) conference and exhibition is now open and early bird rates are available. This meeting brings together experts from a variety of interests and disciplines to discuss the latest developments, challenges and Solutions in science. This event has been organised with special interest groups from the Royal Society of Chemistry the BMSS and ChroSoc. ‘SinS’ will take place in Cardiff from the 4th-6th July and will be of value to scientists from all industries.
The topics of the conference include bioanalytical science for One Health, contaminants of emerging concern, digital solutions, hyphenated techniques and emerging modalities, establishing a sustainable laboratory, green solutions, latest challenges in molecular characterisation, next generation medicines, non-target analysis and suspect screening, particulate matter in complex samples, and sustainability in the regulated lab.
Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from experts in these fields, share their own research and experiences, and network with colleagues from around the world and from different industries. The conference will also feature poster sessions and panel discussions to allow for a more interactive and engaging experience.
TO BE INCLUDED IN OUR NEXT ISSUE, SEND YOUR RESEARCH AND EVENTS NEWS STORIES TO:
HEATHER@INTLABMATE.COM
If you are interested in staying up-to-date on the latest advancements and innovations in science, this conference is not to be missed. Don’t wait to register, as early bird rates are only available for a limited time. We hope to see you at the Solutions in Science conference and look forward to learning from and engaging with you.
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