From strawberry pie to recount his research on tuberculosis, a challenge in 180 seconds

To present her work and make it understandable, Wendy Le Mouëllic did not hesitate to use the culinary metaphor. A doctoral student in the Toulouse IPBS laboratory, she is participating this Thursday in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) in the international final of “My thesis in 180 seconds” (MT180), a popular science competition intended to highlight young researchers.

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In 180 seconds, she tells about tuberculosis with strawberry tarts

As in Nice, where she won the first prize of the jury, Wendy Le Mouëllic will summarize in three minutes her thesis subject, “Characterization of the pathways of sulfur acquisition and cysteine ​​biosynthesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis during infection” .

To explain it, she chose to wear the coat of a dietician for bacteria. Because the biologist seeks to understand how the tuberculosis bacillus obtains the sulfur which allows it to develop. So why not try to put the bacteria on a diet by depriving it of its favorite dish embodied, for the competition, by strawberry pie? In Toulouse, Wendy Le Mouëllic’s recipe has already won all the votes.