CryoStore diary - Mafalda Almeida

INRAE Rennes, France | 24-25th April 2025

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending Les Journées Scientifiques 2025 de l'École Doctorale SVS Bretagne in Saint-Brieuc, from the 24th to 25th of April. Saint-Brieuc is a small coastal city north of Rennes with some beautiful beaches (and it’s where my supervisor Catherine was born, so obviously a must-see destination 😉).

Organising committee of students (from left to right): Hélène Calais, Pauline Le Gall, Océane Malvezin, Basile Longo.

The whole idea of Les Journées Scientifiques is to bring together students from the Doctoral School to share their work, connect, and learn about each other’s research in a more relaxed and friendly setting. Like any conference, we had the option to present a poster or give a talk. It’s organised by the doctoral school with the help of a group of PhD students who handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes work, including picking the keynote speakers and other fun bits.

So, let’s start with day one. We had talks from invited speakers Nina Soler and Jean-Luc Jun, as well as presentations from fellow PhD students covering a wide range of topics like technology and health, integrative biology, and psychology. It was super interesting, although at times a bit intense for me, since a lot of it was outside my field of expertise. Our doctoral school has a ton of students working in human health, especially medicine, so things can get pretty specific... and well, I come from a marine biology background, so I was learning on the fly!

1st Day: Keynote speaker Nina Soler presenting her work.

Between the oral sessions, there were also poster sessions on the same themes, which helped break up the day nicely and made it flow better.

1st Day: One of the two poster sessions of that day.

In the evening, we were treated to a pizza truck at the youth hostel where we were staying (L’auberge de jeunesse). It was a great moment to chat and hang out with everyone. I appreciated this time, not just to connect with other students in a relaxed setting, but also to bond with my fellow PhD students from the lab, Océane Malvezin and Jérôme Montfort, who came with me. Since we’re in different teams, we don’t get to see each other that much, so it was lovely to just talk and laugh together. Also, we had more than 50 pizzas and let’s just say none of them were left behind.

1st Day: Patiently waiting for the pizzas. I’m in the back with Océane and Jérôme.

1st Day: The youth hostel had a little farm with goats. They were adorable! Our room (Océane’s and mine) had a great view of the fields and the goats.

Afterwards, the organisers treated us to a drink at a bar in the city centre. Another great excuse to socialise and unwind a bit. 10/10, would recommend.

1st Day: Jérôme and I with some cocktails! Océane, the one taking the photo, was being responsible and not drinking since she had to drive us back eheh.

Now, onto day two. We kicked things off with a talk from invited speaker Valentin Quiniou, followed by more presentations, this time on immunology and toxicology. Again, not exactly my comfort zone, but still interesting.

Then came the poster session, where I presented my very first poster! I chose to do a poster instead of a talk because I have another conference coming up soon, and I figured this would be good practice — a real two-birds-one-stone moment. Plus, I only finished my bioinformatics analysis now (very exciting!), so there wasn’t quite enough time to prepare a full talk.

2nd Day: Final poster session of the Journées.

2nd Day: My poster and I. I think you can tell I’m very proud of it. My first poster!

My poster focused on the overall goals of my PhD project, what we plan to do, and what we hope to find. I presented the project’s background, our methods, and the expected outcomes. It was my first time presenting at a conference, so I was definitely a bit nervous, but also really proud to share my work. It felt great when people came by and asked questions. I even got to do the little “speech” I had practised (thank you, Francisca, for the advice!).

Most of the attendees work with human biology, so they were a bit confused about my fish-focused epigenetics project, which is understandable. I mean, I was confused about a lot of their research too! But people were curious and asked great questions, which made for some nice interactions. Overall, it was good practice for my upcoming (and first!) big conference. This next one will be different, since everyone will be working with fish or at least aquatic animals, and we’ll all be talking about epigenetics. Still... I’m a bit nervous. My first big-girl conference!

We wrapped up with more presentations in the field of cellular biology, molecular biology, and genetics. To finish the event, we had a roundtable with the keynote speakers on the ever-relevant topic of balancing personal life and work.

Even though I’ve heard these messages a million times, it’s always good to be reminded: don't let social pressure dictate what you do with your life. Want to work a lot? Go for it. Want to prioritise family? Do it. Want to stay in your home country instead of moving abroad? Perfectly valid. Want to live abroad forever? That’s valid too. Just follow what feels right for you. One quote that stuck with me was, “When you stop people-pleasing, people will stop being pleased... but that’s okay.”

2nd Day: Roundtable with the keynote speakers about balancing personal life and work.

We closed off with a small coffee break, goodbyes, and the prize ceremony. Sadly, I didn’t win anything. I had my eyes on that FNAC voucher... I was already mentally shopping for books, but alas, the universe said not today.

All in all, it was a great experience. I learned a lot, got to share my project for the first time, and had fun hanging out with Océane and Jérôme. Here’s to more pizza, posters, and progress!