An international festival
The Pint of Science festival is organised in 28 countries around the world and 68 cities in France. Discover the full programme near you.
From Monday 18 to Wednesday 20 May, from 7pm to 10pm, we invite you to join us at the bar:
"Le dernier bar avant la fin du monde"
19 avenue Victoire
75001 Paris
Registration opens on 13 April 2026
Programme
In 2026, we will welcome six scientists, including researchers and doctoral students. Maria Gutierrez (PhD) will also support the FC3R in her role as facilitator.
Monday 18 May - From gut to chip
Intestines grown in the laboratory to understand inflammation and cancer, and kidneys on a chip to study kidney disease. Two research projects that recreate our organs in miniature to better observe and understand what happens inside the body and devise new treatments.
Intestinal organoids need immunity
Lionel Le Bouris – Researcher, Inserm
What happens in our intestines when they become inflamed? Why don't colon cancers respond well to the new immunotherapies that have changed how other cancers are treated? Are animal models the best way to answer these questions? Lionel Le Bouris develops organoids from patient samples and then studies how these structures interact with the immune cells of those same patients. His goal is to reduce the activation of immune cells in inflammatory diseases, but increase it against cancers.
It's nothing, sweetheart!
Alizée Fernandes Pereira – PhD student, Sorbonne University
What if a kidney (or almost) could fit in the palm of your hand? During this futuristic evening, Alizée Fernandez Pereira will guide you through her thesis work. The agenda includes miniature kidneys on a chip, human cells and sensors. The idea? To better understand kidney disease and find new ways to treat it. Research that's close to science fiction... but within reach - and you won't even have to leave the bar!
Tuesday 19 May - Tomorrow's healthcare: AI and mini-tumours
What if medicines were designed by AI, and tumours were grown on chips rather than in mice? Between algorithms and mini-cancers in the lab, discover how research is reinventing the way we test and create the treatments of tomorrow.
ChatGPT, make me a medicine!
Luigi Ranieri – PhD student, Paris Cité University. Inserm
What if the next medicine you took had been designed using artificial intelligence? Today, developing a treatment takes 15 to 20 years, costs billions of euros, and involves several animal tests. Artificial intelligence is changing the game. Thanks to machines that analyse large amounts of biological data, we can now predict which compounds are most likely to become medicines. This reduces animal testing and minimizes failures. Come and find out if AI could replace chemists like Luigi Raneiri! (Spoiler: no.)
Minion chips to grow mini-tumours in the laboratory
Anna Schreiber – PhD student, Paris Cité University
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers, and developing new treatments requires numerous tests, which are often carried out on mice. To limit this practice, Anna Schreiber has developed a small, ingenious Minion chip (resembling Bob) that can reproduce key aspects of colorectal cancer in vitro. The chip can be used to grow tumour spheroids -small balls of cancerous or malignant cells - providing a more ethical, rapid and relevant model for testing new treatments.
Wednesday 20 May – The private life of microbes
Microbes lead much more eventful lives than we realise. This evening event reveals their most intimate secrets, from a parasite with a secret love life to bacteria that have evolved from being a threat to becoming a food source.
The hidden sex life of the Leishmania parasite
Marcela Fuentes – PhD student, Institut Pasteur
Even microorganisms have a love life! Leishmania, a parasite transmitted by insects called sandflies, can cause the serious disease leishmaniasis. For a long time, it was thought that it only divided in order to multiply, until it was discovered that it also led a well-hidden sex life. In her project, Marcela Fuentes is studying a protein called Gex1, which is essential for Leishmania to reproduce. Want to delve into the secrets of seduction on a microscopic scale? Come and find out how this parasite finds — or loses — love!
Did you know that yoghurt used to be sold in pharmacies?
Anne Hiol – Postdoctoral researcher, INRAe
In the past, bacteria were feared: they were accused of poisoning us from within. Today, we eat them for breakfast without hesitation. So what happened in between?
In her talk, Anne Hiol recounts how yoghurt went from being a remedy sold in pharmacies to becoming a popular food, thanks to the efforts of scientists and Nobel Prize winners, as well as a few lactic ferments. You'll never look at yoghurt in the same way again afterwards!