Quand c’est la science qui bricole, c’est du sérieux

Loin d’être une pratique accessoire à la production de la connaissance scientifique, le bricolage affecte tous les niveaux du travail quotidien du chercheur, de l’ingénieur, du technicien. L’analyse des observations relatées par les sociologues des sciences et celle des données issues d’une enquête personnelle réalisée au sein d’un centre IRM (Imagerie par Résonance Magnétique) ont abouti à la reconnaissance de deux types de bricolage qui ont été établis sur la base de leur impact sur le produit final, d’après le type de contrainte qui les justifie et selon les techniques d’occultation auxquelles les acteurs ont fait appel pour les dissimuler.Rather than being a subsidiary practice for the development of scientific knowledge, tinkering affects work dynamics in researchers, engineers and technicians everyday life. On the basis of the analysis of results provided by sociologists of science and following observations from a field work realised in a MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) lab, we will identify two categories describing the practice of tinkering. To establish this categorisation we will take into account the impact of the bricolage on final products, the type of constraints that justify it and the concealment techniques recruited to minimize its consequences

Gut Microbiota, Metabolome, and Body Composition Signatures of Response to Therapy in Patients with Advanced Melanoma

Despite the recent breakthroughs in targeted and immunotherapy for melanoma, the overall survival rate remains low. In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to the gut microbiota and other modifiable patient factors (e.g., diet and body composition), though their role in influencing therapeutic responses has yet to be defined. Here, we characterized a cohort of 31 patients with unresectable IIIC-IV-stage cutaneous melanoma prior to initiation of targeted or first-line immunotherapy via the following methods: (i) fecal microbiome and metabolome via 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, respectively, and (ii) anthropometry, body composition, nutritional status, physical activity, biochemical parameters, and immunoprofiling. According to our data, patients subsequently classified as responders were obese (i.e., with high body mass index and high levels of total, visceral, subcutaneous, and intramuscular adipose tissue), non-sarcopenic, and enriched in certain fecal taxa (e.g., Phascolarctobacterium) and metabolites (e.g., anethole), which were potentially endowed with immunostimulatory and oncoprotective activities. On the other hand, non-response was associated with increased proportions of Streptococcus, Actinomyces, Veillonella, Dorea, Fusobacterium, higher neutrophil levels (and a higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio), and higher fecal levels of butyric acid and its esters, which also correlated with decreased survival. This exploratory study provides an integrated list of potential early prognostic biomarkers that could improve the clinical management of patients with advanced melanoma, in particular by guiding the design of adjuvant therapeutic strategies to improve treatment response and support long-term health improvement

An Efficient Strategy to Induce and Maintain In Vitro Human T Cells Specific for Autologous Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: The efficient expansion in vitro of cytolytic CD8+ T cells (CTLs) specific for autologous tumors is crucial both for basic and translational aspects of tumor immunology. We investigated strategies to generate CTLs specific for autologous Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC), the most frequent tumor in mankind, using circulating lymphocytes. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Classic Mixed Lymphocyte Tumor Cultures with NSCLC cells consistently failed to induce tumor-specific CTLs. Cross-presentation in vitro of irradiated NSCLC cells by autologous dendritic cells, by contrast, induced specific CTL lines from which we obtained a high number of tumor-specific T cell clones (TCCs). The TCCs displayed a limited TCR diversity, suggesting an origin from few tumor-specific T cell precursors, while their TCR molecular fingerprints were detected in the patient's tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, implying a role in the spontaneous anti-tumor response. Grafting NSCLC-specific TCR into primary allogeneic T cells by lentiviral vectors expressing human V-mouse C chimeric TCRalpha/beta chains overcame the growth limits of these TCCs. The resulting, rapidly expanding CD4+ and CD8+ T cell lines stably expressed the grafted chimeric TCR and specifically recognized the original NSCLC. CONCLUSIONS: This study defines a strategy to efficiently induce and propagate in vitro T cells specific for NSCLC starting from autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes

Le côté « obscur » de la science

Une réflexion riche et diversifiée s’instaure depuis quelques années autour de l’ignorance et de sa production dans les sciences. Les sociologues et les anthropologues ont proposé différentes définitions pour délimiter ce vaste champ intellectuel et pour démontrer comment les acteurs jouent activement avec l’incertitude. Cet article se concentre sur un type particulier d’ignorance, à savoir la dissimulation intentionnelle de données, dans le domaine des neurosciences. Les chercheurs observés occultent certains dysfonctionnements techniques et expriment les difficultés à rendre publiques des données discordantes ou contradictoires. La disparition de certaines découvertes considérées comme « non publiables », démontre d’un côté les stratégies que les chercheurs doivent mettre en place pour assurer leur position et, de l’autre côté, l’écart de celles-ci vis-à-vis des idéaux scientifiques de transparence et de mutualisation des connaissances.A rich and diversified discussion has been going on since many years about ignorance and its treatment by sciences. Sociologists and anthropologists have proposed different definitions to delimit this broad intellectual field and to demonstrate how the actors actively cope with uncertainty. The article focuses on a particular kind of ignorance, namely intentional concealing of data in the field of neuroscience. This contribution draws on first hand empirical evidence that researchers sometimes obscure technical problems as well as they have to deal with the difficulties to publish discordant or contradictory data. These practices illustrate that valorisation of spectacular discoveries and “positive” results clashes with the ideals of transparency and knowledge sharing conveyed in particular by infrastructures like databases.Desde hace algunos años asistimos al desarrollo de una reflexión fértil y plural en torno a la ignorancia y su tratamiento por las ciencias. Los sociólogos y los antropólogos han propuesto diferentes definiciones para delimitar este amplio campo intelectual y para demostrar cómo los actores juegan activamente con la incertidumbre. Este artículo se concentra en un tipo particular de ignorancia, concretamente, el enmascaramiento intencionado de datos en el campo de la neurociencia. Los investigadores observados ocultan algunas disfunciones técnicas y expresan sus dificultades para publicar los información discordantes o contradictorios. La desaparición de ciertos hallazgos considerados como «no publicables» permite observar, por un lado, las estrategias que los investigadores deben aplicar para asegurar sus posiciones en el campo científico y, por otro lado, la distancia entre éstas y los ideales científicos de transparencia y reciprocidad de conocimientos

La fabrique du cerveau. Les dessous d’un laboratoire de neuro-imagerie

International audienceA l’ère des neurosciences et de leur numérisation massive, la détermination des structures fines du cerveau et la compréhension de son fonctionnement sont devenues des enjeux de premier ordre. Dans ce contexte, l’IRM s’est imposée comme une technique reine. Grâce à elle, le cerveau s’offre au regard, dévoilant arcanes et tréfonds scintillants… La visualisation des processus cognitifs via des images spectaculaires, qui fascinent les chercheurs autant que le public, engendre une nouvelle relation à notre corps pensant et agissant. Mais que sont ces objets numériques d’un nouveau genre ? Comment ces images sont-elles acquises, sur quelles bases techniques et par quels protocoles ? Et quel projet anime ceux qui établissent des atlas de référence, dessinant un cerveau pixelisé dans lequel tous les autres doivent se fondre ?Pour le savoir, Giulia Anichini s’est immergée plusieurs années durant dans deux centres de recherche en imagerie où elle a pu observer les pratiques et les savoir-faire, décrire les implicites. Partant des lieux et des acteurs de ces pratiques, de leur environnement matériel, elle décrit les méthodes d’acquisition des images, leurs transformations successives et les bricolages informatiques mis en œuvre pour sauver des résultats pas toujours probants. Elle montre comment les banques de données saturées d’images obtenues selon des choix techniques et théoriques hétérogènes constituent désormais une extension inéluctable du laboratoire de neuro-imagerie, où s’élabore une science data driven pré­ten­dument affranchie de la théorie. L’accumulation de ces résultats à la fiabilité pas toujours assurée n’est pas neutre, notamment par ses implications dans le champ des neurosciences sociales, quand les émotions dites morales tracent leur géographie dans le « cortex numérique ».Entre enquête ethnologique, sociologie des sciences et analyse épistémologique, Giulia Anichini propose ici une vision inédite des neurosciences, de leurs présupposés, leurs conjectures et leurs ambitions

L'intelligence Artificielle à l'épreuve de l'exercice professionnel des radiologues : entre affaiblissement et renforcement

International audienc

Overview of research related to science in society in Europe

International audienceWe have carried out a cross-sectional analysis of the information on research in the science in society (SiS) field collected by the Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe (MASIS) project. Based on the reports set up by national correspondents in the different countries, we were able to provide a picture of the type of research being carried out in Europe under national funding. It has provided a new picture, bringing in countries that do not often appear in the mainstream literature. A typology of countries has been set up according to their activity in the area and a description of research topics is provided. A number of integrated projects, sometimes cross-national, that examine a topic from different angles appear to be particularly promising. Most available information concerned dedicated SiS research projects. Very little information was available on SiS research ‘embedded’ in projects centred on other ‘hard-science’ topics

Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe (MASIS): National Report, France

Ce rapport national a servi à une synthèse de 38 pays de l'Union Européenne publié en 2012https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/2c88d5f4-f240-4849-9c2c-a87d487d93fc/language-enhttps://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/monitoring-policy-research-activities-on-sis_en.pdfISBN 978-92-79-23355-

Sperm ultrastructure and meiotic segregation in an infertile 47, XYY man

The majority of 47, XYY males are fertile and contribute to produce chromosomally normal children. In 47, XYY carriers, most meiotic studies indicated that the extra Y chromosomes were lost in the pre-meiotic stages, but in some cases the presence of one X and the two Y chromosomes has been detected during prophase I as an X univalent plus a YY bivalent. The aim of this study was to describe sperm parameters and meiotic segregation in a case of an infertile man with a 47, XYY karyotype. Sperm morphology was evaluated for the first time by transmission electron microscopy highlighting apoptosis and necrosis as the most frequent pathologies. Meiotic segregation was explored by fluorescence in situ hybridisation technique, which makes us capable of detecting aneuploidies of sex chromosomes. The fact that the frequency of 1818XY diploidy was very high reveals an error occurring during first meiotic division. Polymerase chain reaction analysis did not show any Y microdeletion. The combination of these two techniques led us to clarify the status of the spermatogenic process, showing an altered meiotic segregation concomitant with the presence of sperm apoptosis and necrosis in a patient 47, XYY. © 2007 The Authors

Technicity vs Scientificity. Complementarities and Rivalries

Contents1. The Artisan, the Sage and the Irony: An Outline of Knowledge Sociogenesis.2. Technicization of the Neurosciences: Uses of Image-Processing Software in Brain Research.3. Cryptography, a Human Science? Models, Matrices, Tools and Frames of Reference.4. The Beauty of Equation: The Anthropologist and the Engineer in Design Processes.Version anglaise de : Giulia Anichini, Flavia Carraro, Philippe Geslin, Georges Guille-Escuret. Technicité versus scientificité : tensions et équivoquesIste editions, 2, pp.205, 2017, Collection sciences, société et nouvelles technologies. Interdicipinarité autour du social, 978-1-78405-310-9International audienceThe relationship between technicity and scientificity is often overlooked or avoided despite being a determining factor for establishing interdisciplinarity. By focusing on this relationship and highlighting a number of its ramifications, this book sheds light on the hidden or skewed stakes that condition a wide array of scientific projects.The authors present different approaches based on their own professional experience, focusing on the technique–science relationship in domains as diverse as brain mapping, the decipherment of Mycenaean writing and the design process. Each chapter presents varying and often opposing epistemological conclusions to provide the reader with a wide breadth of examples in different fields.Although the scope of this book is far from exhaustive, it serves as a starting point for the necessary and long-overdue clarification of the relationship between these neighboring, yet disjointed, sectors