08 Jul Rotary members present cheques to BRIC
On Thursday July 3, our unit had the great pleasure of receiving the proceeds of the “Jetons le Cancer” Rotarian project to finance new equipment. This exceptional support takes the form of a €70,000 grant, presented by the Governor of District 1690, Brigitte Burtinovic.
BRIC is proud to receive this funding from the “Jetons le cancer” operation in 2025, enabling us to acquire a slide scanner. This instrument, designed for high-resolution, high-throughput imaging of samples on slides, will be crucial for our quantitative analyses. This device will join our iBRIC (imaging @ BRIC) shared microscopy platform, enabling us to develop new projects. Some 15 members of Rotary District 1690 clubs, key players in this fundraising initiative, were welcomed to our premises in the Bordeaux Biologie Santé building. Frederic Saltel, director of our unit, presented our research areas and our outreach activities for the public. Thomas Mathivet, scientific manager of the iBRIC platform, presented the equipment we will be acquiring thanks to this funding, illustrating its impact on various projects undertaken by our teams.
The question-and-answer session that followed gave the two researchers an opportunity to exchange views with Rotary members, who were visibly interested and curious about what goes on behind the scenes of research. Discussions covered a wide range of topics, from the genesis of research projects and the development stages of new treatments, to the challenges of abandoning certain avenues, not forgetting mechanisms for commercializing patents from public laboratories and support for our students. Fundamental questions about cancer were also asked, including risk factors (environment, diet), the prevalence and treatability of different types of cancer, and the role of physical activity in prevention. We thank them warmly for their commitment and the relevance of their questions!
Mrs Brigitte Burtinovic, Governor of District 1690, then officially handed over the cheque, after signing the documents. One of Rotary’s strategic priorities is the fight against disease. Rotary is deeply involved in the fight against polio with the Polio+ program, and for many years has been involved in the fight against cancer with the Jetons le Cancer project. Every year, on the 1st Saturday of the month, Rotarians all over France raise awareness and collect €1 in exchange for 1 shopping cart token, in all partner supermarkets. She underlined the importance for Rotary of being able to make such funding a reality, made possible thanks to the involvement of Rotarians.
The visit ended with a tour of our facilities, guided by Lamia Azzi-Martin, design engineer in team 4 and technical manager of the iBRIC platform. They discovered a room dedicated to the manipulation of DNA and RNA, and a preparation laboratory where tissues are finely cut and stained before observation. The tour then led to the cell culture laboratories, observed from the windows because of their restricted-access status. The tour ended in our microscopy area, where a concrete example was presented: the observation of cells contaminated by a bacterial toxin and fluorescently labeled, making it possible to visualize the DNA breakage sites of the cells studied and their “skeleton”.
We would like to thank our visitors for their interest and pertinent questions.
Our warmest thanks go to all the donors of the “Jetons le cancer” project and to the members of Rotary districts who initiated this project and supported our equipment proposal!
We can’t wait to receive our new microscopy tool!
