Scientific letter - Bonjour Southeast

September 2011

Edito

Dear Friends,
In October, the General Consulate of France is getting ready for "France-Atlanta 2011".
In the program, not less than four scientific symposia are planned :

 Georgia Tech Lorraine : Enabling US-French Cooperation in R&D and in Higher Education that will take place at Georgia Tech on Thursday, October 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

 Graphene : Taking Electronics Beyond Silicon that will take place at Georgia Tech on Friday, October 28, at 8:30 a.m.

 Translational Treatments : Advances in Renal Transplantation that will take place at Emory University on Thursday, November 3, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

 Geriatric Nephrology in the 21st Century : Challenges and Opportunities that will take place at Emory University on Monday, November 7 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

You will find more details on the France-Atlanta 2011 website.

As we already know, the southeast universities are very dynamic. To illustrate this, Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University are among the US News college list as first ranks of best US universities.
Moreover, an Emory University’s biologist figures in the 10 more brillant american scientists.
To conclude, the University of Miami expends itself in opening a Life Science and Technology Park which wil "conduct in international partnerships".

If you need more information, do not hesitate to contact us.

Johanna Ferrand, Deputy Scientific Attaché in Life Sciences

Sciences in the Southeast USA

Scientific news froms the Southeast USA

 UNC opens first inpatient perinatal psychiatry unit in U.S., University of North Carolina, 09/14/2011.
The UNC Department of Psychiatry and the UNC Center for Women’s Mood Disorders have opened a 5-bed unit for women with moderate to severe post-partum depression (PPD). The unit is the first of its kind in the United States.
It is modeled after European mom-and-baby units. Ten to fifteen percent of women will have PPD, 5 percent of them will need specialized inpatient care. The new unit will have specialized programming for women during pregnancy and postpartum.
>> Learn more

 UNC researchers identify important step in sperm reprogramming, University of North Carolina, 09/22/2011.
A study from the UNC School of Medicine has illuminated a key step of demethylation, giving stem cell researchers critical information as they try to reprogram adult cells to mimic the curative and self-renewing properties of stem cells.
>> Learn more

 Controlling silicon evaporation improves quality of graphene, Georgia Institute of Technology (GA), 09/22/2011.
One of the key decisions faced by people living with HIV, and by their health-care providers, is when to start treatment.
Some recent studies have found that starting highly active antiretroviral therapy earlier is better. Now a new study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that there may be a limit to how early the therapy, known as HAART, should start.
>> Learn more

 L’obésité infantile aux Etats-Unis et les campagnes de prévention mises en place en Géorgie pour contrer ce phénomène, USA, 09/23/2011.
Le groupe de travail de la Maison Blanche sur l’obésité infantile, créé par le président Barack Obama dans le cadre de la campagne de la première dame Michelle Obama appelé "Let’s Move", vise à réduire le taux de l’obésité infantile d’ici une génération. Le but est donc que les Etats-Unis retrouvent un taux d’obésité infantile égal à 5% en 2030, comparable à celui des années 1970, avant qu’il n’augmente fortement avec l’apparition de la "malbouffe".
>> Learn more

 New study adds further guidance on when to start antiretroviral therapy for HIV, Emory University (GA), 09/26/2011.
One of the key decisions faced by people living with HIV, and by their health-care providers, is when to start treatment.

Some recent studies have found that starting highly active antiretroviral therapy earlier is better. Now a new study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that there may be a limit to how early the therapy, known as HAART, should start.
>> Learn more

Sciences in France

Scientific news from France

 Fifty new exoplanets come to light also available in French, CNRS, 09/12/2011.
An international team of astronomers including French researchers at CNRS, UPMC and UVSQ, has today announced the discovery of 50 new extrasolar planets in orbit around nearby stars. This impressive haul, collected by ESO’s (1) Chile-based highly-performing exoplanet-searcher HARPS, includes 16 super-Earths, in other words planets whose mass is comprised between one and ten times that of the Earth.
>> Learn more

 Blood marker used to detect predisposition to depression , INSERM, 09/15/2011.
When rats are subject to intense stress, only those who experience lasting alterations to the neural structure in specific areas of the brain develop symptoms of depression after a further stressful episode. These findings were recently discovered by a team led by Jean-Jacques Benoliel from the Brain & Spine Institute research centre (UPMC/Inserm U975/CNRS) at the Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière. Their research has also characterized a reliable biomarker in rats that makes it possible to detect vulnerability to depression.
>> Learn more

 Faster than light ?, also available in French, CNRS, 09/23/2011.
Neutrinos that travel faster than light ? This seems to be the conclusion of the measurements performed by a team of researchers led by Dario Autiero, a CNRS researcher, as part of the OPERA international experiment.
>> Learn more

 Monkeys also reason through analogy, also available in French, CNRS, 09/23/2011.
Recognizing relations between relations is what analogy is all about. What lies behind this ability ? Is it uniquely human ? A study carried out by Joël Fagot of the Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive (CNRS/Université de Provence) and Roger Thompson of the Franklin & Marshall College (United States) has shown that monkeys are capable of making analogies.
>> Learn more

Events

France-Atlanta 2011

Georgia Tech Lorraine : Enabling US-French Cooperation in R&D and in Higher Education
 Where : Manufacturing Research Center (MaRC) Auditorium, Georgia Institute of Technology, 813 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332.
 When : Thursday, October 27 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

International exchange programs, the establishment of branches abroad, joint research have seen an exponential increase in the last decade. The aim of this symposium is to share ideas and experiences in transatlantic cooperation. Also, ground for future cooperation will be explored, especially with the private sector, with large companies such as PSA Peugeot-Citroën, Total or Imerys.

Dr. G. P. “Bud” Peterson, President of the Georgia Institute of Technology, will open the symposium and welcome His Excellency Monsieur François Delattre, French Ambassador to the United States. Participants also include Alain Bravo, General Director of Supelec ; Sylvain Allano, Scientific Director of PSA Peugeot-Citroën ; and Thierry Salmona, General Director Innovation, Research & Technology of Imerys. Participants will explore concrete ways to further strengthen US-French cooperation.

Graphene : Taking Electronics Beyond Silicon
 Where : Manufacturing Research Center (MaRC) Auditorium, Georgia Institute of Technology campus, 813 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332.
 When : Friday, October 28, at 8:30 a.m.

The Georgia Institute of Technology is organizing a one-day workshop on graphene, the ultra-thin carbon material that promises to advance electronics beyond silicon. Leading French and American scientists in the field will give keynote presentations and share ideas to nurture existing partnerships and foster new collaborations between U.S. and French research institutions. Dr. Albert Fert, Nobel Prize 2007 in Physics will give a keynote lecture on Graphene and Spintronics.

Translational Treatments : Advances in Renal Transplantation
 Where : The Dobbs University Center (DUC), Emory University, 605 Asbury Circle, Winship Ballroom – 3rd Floor, Atlanta, GA 30322.
 When : Thursday, November 3, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The Emory Transplant Center at Emory University will host French and American immunologists and transplant physicians who will address critical topics on the care of renal transplant patients. Distinguished research scholars, such as Dr. Christophe Legendre (Necker Hospital), Dr. Lionel Rostaing (Rangueil-Toulouse Hospital), Dr. Jean-Paul Soulillou (Nantes Hospital), Dr. Antonio Guasch and Dr. Thomas Pearson (Emory School of Medicine), will give presentations, share ideas, and exchange best practices in the diagnosis and management of patients.

Geriatric Nephrology in the 21st Century : Challenges and Opportunities
 Where : Klamon Room (CNR 8030), Rollins Building, Rollins School of Public Health Claudia Nance, Emory University 1518 Clifton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30322.
 When : Monday, November 7 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Emory University School of Medicine will host French and American experts who will discuss geriatric nephrology. On-patient demographics and risk factors for development of chronic kidney disease in elderly patients, disparities in access to the renal transplant waiting list, transplant outcomes, and options for renal replacement therapies and dialysis vascular access will be some of the many issues addressed. Dr. Bénédicte Stengel (INSERM), Dr. Christian Jacquelinet (France Biomedical Agency), Dr. William McClellan and Dr. Monnie Wasse (Emory University) are among the many participants.

Good to Know

The Office for Science and Technology in the USA has a website

The Office of Science and Technology has a dual role :
 to aid in strengthening the role of French science and technology in the United States,
 to disseminate in France information on American research and development policy as well as current events in science and technology.

The Office of Science and Technology operates in close conjunction with numerous French institutions : research organizations, universities and engineering schools, centers for technology transfer, incubators, businesses… and by different means : promotional actions, Franco-American collaborative development, and information collection.
>>Learn more

The European Science café took place last wednesday !

What is the goal ? One of the european consulates designates a scientific of its nationality for the european meeting. This scientific will present a subject in front of a varied audience at the Alliance francaise and the German Cultural Center which will host this monthly event.
Wednesday’s subject that had been discussed was "A Global Strategy for a 21st-Century University- The View from Liverpool" by Professor John Caldwell, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Liverpool.
>>Learn more

Innovation, "U.S. labs are not afraid of a social blockage"

How do Americans perceive technical and scientific innovation and its consequences ? That is what two French deputies, Claude Birraux and Jean-Yves Le Déaut, tried to understand while traveling to the United States.

To prepare their report on "Innovation to the test of fear and risk," the two French deputies went on a mission to the United States. Claude Birraux and Jean-Yves Le Déaut, from the French Parliamentary Office for Evaluation of Scientific and Technical Choices (OPECST), met experts and decision makers to understand how thinking on innovation and its consequences is expressed in different countries. In France, the aborted debate on nanotechnology has left bad memories…
>>Learn more

Picture of the Month

Gecko Licking His Eyes

Credit : NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham

NASA engineer Ernie Wright looks on as the first six flight ready James Webb Space Telescope’s primary mirror segments are prepped to begin final cryogenic testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

It should succeed the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018. A laser system, called interferometer, measures the deformation of the mirror while the temperature is lowered to -400°F, slightly below their normal operating range in space. The mirrors must keep their shape within 25 billionths of a meter to function properly.

The texture which appears on the mirrors is the reflection of a stitch of Wright’s sterile gown.

More details on NASA’s website : Final Polishing Complete on Remaining Twelve Webb Mirrors.

Edited by Johanna Ferrand, Deputy Scientific Attaché in Life Sciences, designed by Clémentine Bernon, Deputy Cultural Attaché

© Consulate General of France in Atlanta

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