Emilie Laurent, Virnext research engineer, and Aurélien Traversier, Virnext assistant engineer, have been awarded the “Cristal collectif” by the CNRS for their major contributions to the Virocrib national infrastructure (https://www.virocrib.fr/) dedicated to the screening of antiviral molecules.
The collective crystal award distinguishes teams of research support staff who have carried out projects whose technical mastery, collective dimension, applications, innovation and influence are particularly remarkable. Virocrib is a consortium created at the initiative of CNRS Biologie in response to the COVID19 pandemic, in order to bring together a range of experts, research teams and platforms and organise a continuum of know-how and resources with the aim of being better prepared and reacting quickly to future health crises. The challenge is also to better anticipate the emergence of new respiratory viruses.
Emilie Laurent and Aurélien Traversier have contributed to the establishment of a continuum of preclinical in vitro and in vivo infection models and to the implementation of a large number of campaigns to evaluate candidates antiviral molecules against SARS-CoV-2 in reconstituted human respiratory epithelia models of infection. This distinction also rewards their professionalism, their team spirit and the great commitment they have shown on a daily basis for many years.
This Cristal is shared with Adeline Danneels, CNRS Assistant Engineer, Audrey Tarricone, CNRS Research Engineer, in the Molecular & Cellular Virology team at the Center for Infection & Immunity of Lille (CIIL, CNRS UMR9017 & Inserm U1019, Institut Pasteur de Lille), Nathalie Gros, Ingénie d’Etudes Hors Classe CNRS and Lisa Morichon, Ingénie d’Etudes CNRS at the CEMIPAI CNRS UAR3725 – Centre d’étude des maladies infectieuses et pharmacologie anti-infectieuses in Montpellier.
We warmly congratulate Emilie Laurent and Aurélien Traversier and all the winners, and we thank Antoine Petit, CEO of the CNRS, André le Bivic, Director of the CNRS Biology Institute, Sylvie Guerder and Bruno Lucas, DAS CNRS Biology, for their confidence and support.
Below is the link to the video about the Virocrib project :