LAI would like to extend its warmest congratulations to Norah, Jean-François and Marie-Pierre for their promotions.
They all brilliantly passed the internal competitive contest. Norah was promoted to engineer, Jean-François to research director and Marie-Pierre to professor.
What a successful year 2026 has been for LAI !
We are pleased to share that members of the LAI took part in the European South Atlantic Biophysics Conference 2026, held from 17 to 19 June 2026 in Montpellier.
Arnauld SergĂ© presented a poster entitled “Nanodynamics and blockade of RANK/RANKL interactions between leukemic and thymic epithelial cells”, a collaborative work with Loriane Maillot, Martine Biarnes-Pelicot, Magali Irla.
Pierre-Henri Puech was invited as a speaker and gave a talk entitled “Some aspects of T cells mechanobiology”.
Many thanks to the organisers for a stimulating meeting.
We are pleased to share that Arnauld Serge, from our lab, led a project at the 2026 CENTURI Hackathon, held from 5 to 7 June at the Villages Clubs du Soleil in La Belle de Mai, Marseille, an event dedicated to coding, engineering, and idea-sharing at the interface of computer science and the life sciences. Together with Magali Irla, Arnauld proposed and led Thymo3D: mapping thymic architecture to decode immune health, which set out to reconstruct the mouse thymus in three dimensions and quantify how its structural organisation relates to immune health and disease. This year’s edition brought together 36 participants across six interdisciplinary projects. Many thanks to Philippe Roudot, LĂ©o Guignard, and the CENTURI team for organising such a stimulating event.
We are pleased to share that members of the LAI attended the GdR AQV Days 2026, the annual meeting of the CNRS GdR “Approches Quantitatives du Vivant”, held in Aussois from May 11 to 13, 2026.
The meeting offered a valuable opportunity to follow current work in the quantitative approaches to living systems community, exchange ideas, and discuss shared research questions with colleagues from different backgrounds.
Pierre-Henri Puech, Marie Dessard, and Jana El Husseiny took part in the conference. Jana also presented her PhD work in a selected talk, contributing to the scientific discussions during the meeting. Pierre-Henri was also involved in the organisation of the event.
Many thanks to the organisers and participants for making this a stimulating and enjoyable meeting.
We are pleased to share that several LAI members joined the annual CENTURI PhD & Postdocs Retreat, which took place from 28 to 30 April 2026 at the Moulin de Vernègues. The three-day gathering brought together PhD students and postdocs from across the CENTURI community for a mix of scientific and creative sessions, among them a graphical-abstract session and the “Terraforming” workshops on the future of interdisciplinary research, alongside outdoor activities and many chances to build connections across labs. LAI was represented by Marie Dessard, Jad Sleiman, Ahmad Awada, Jana El Husseiny, and Coralie Gastinel. Many thanks to the CENTURI team and the Organising Committee for putting together such a memorable retreat.
Photo credits: Rémi Wojciechowski – CENTURI
On April 16, 2026, Marie Dessard successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled “Cholesterol and phospholipids in fine-tuning T cell early mechanosensitivity”, conducted under the supervision of Pierre-Henri Puech (LAI) and Yannick Hamon (CIML).
Her work was evaluated by a distinguished examination committee composed of Claire Hivroz, Emma Teixeiro-Pernas, Wilfried Le Goff, and Kheya Sengupta.
The LAI warmly congratulates Dr. Marie on this important milestone and wishes her every success as she continues her medical studies.
We are pleased to share that Jana El Husseiny, PhD student in our lab, participated in the 2nd meeting of the France-BioImaging Mechanobiology Working Group, held in Paris on March 26–27, 2026.
During the meeting, Jana gave a talk to present her work. The event brought together researchers for two days of scientific exchange, including presentations, poster sessions, and practical workshops on a range of mechanobiology approaches.
We are pleased to share that an image from our recent article, “Protocol for quantifying coccidian parasite mechanics and rupture force using advanced micromanipulation-based piercing,” has been selected as the cover image for STAR Protocols, Volume 7, Issue 1 (20 March 2026).
The article presents a micromanipulation-based method to measure the mechanical properties and rupture forces of coccidian parasites.
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Image credit: Julien Husson. Cover image from STAR Protocols.
The Institut Cancer & Immunologie hosted a Keynote Seminar by Jacky Goetz from the Tumor Biomechanics Lab at CRBS in Strasbourg in January 2026, entitled “Mechanics tune & shape metastasis”.
The event included a tutored seminar held online on January 26, co-animated by Pierre-Henri Puech, followed by the Keynote lecture on January 27 at the Hexagone on the Luminy campus and via Zoom.
This seminar brought together researchers and students for insightful discussions on the mechanical regulation of tumor metastasis. We warmly thank Jacky Goetz for his inspiring talk and stimulating discussions.
Building on the success of last year’s initiative, the TPR2 Inserm Meeting was held again on January 9, 2026, at the Hexagone building. This half-day event brought together the four research teams and shared services hosted within the TPR2 facility.
The meeting aimed to strengthen interactions within the building and promote scientific exchange across teams. A member from each research team delivered a presentation highlighting ongoing research projects, recent advances, and future perspectives. These presentations stimulated engaging discussions and opened new avenues for collaboration.
The event concluded with the now traditional Galette des rois, offering a convivial moment to continue exchanges and reinforce the sense of community within TPR2.
Adhesion & Inflammation Lab 
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