Museum
When design meets life sciences: an alliance between science and creativity
Since 2023, the Institut Pasteur has been collaborating with ecodesign students on the DN MADe (National Diploma in Fine Arts, Crafts and Design). The students work with scientists and members of the Pasteur Museum to explore the frontiers between art, design and science.
A partnership based on a shared vision
It all started with a joint initiative led by Zoé Tracq, a designer and teacher at François Mansart high school, and Timothée Bruel, a group leader in the Virus and Immunity Unit led by Olivier Schwartz. Drawing on their complementary skills and values, they came up with the idea for a unique creative partnership combining ecodesign with scientific research into the living world.
Lycée François Mansart is a high school in the town of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés in Val-de-Marne specializing in woodworking, housing trades and design. It runs the DN MADe course (National Diploma in Fine Arts, Crafts and Design), aimed at training up designers specializing in sustainable product design. The three-year curriculum includes an introduction to university research, with a dissertation in the third year, and offers the possibility of pursuing studies up to PhD level.
The partnership is supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR), which is keen to promote projects that fall under the heading "Science with and for society – Scientific, technical and industrial culture" (SAPS-CSTI).
The Pasteur Museum is closely involved with the initiative. The students were invited onto campus for a visit focusing on art and science and were able to explore examples of contemporary creation on site – a great opportunity for designers seeking to combine artistic flair with scientific research.
Three years of projects
Since 2023, the partnership has already resulted in various key projects:
2023: A meeting was organized between scientists and students, leading to an art project at the high school. The project was unveiled at the Institut Pasteur and an exhibition was held in "The 25" during the first edition of the scientific outreach forum.
2024: The students completed a week-long artistic residency, working on the project "Graphic explorations of the living world," based on scientific images obtained using different techniques presented to them during their immersive stay on the Institut Pasteur campus. The aim was to reinterpret the scientific images to reveal their sensory dimensions, turning them into vector paths printed with a plotter (a special printer to print line graphs). The week culminated in an exhibition in "The 25" for the second edition of the scientific outreach forum.
An exhibition of the students' work was also held at Césure, on the former Censier Campus of Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle, for France Design Week.2025: Scenography projects were developed based on the Pasteur Museum's scientific collections. The projects resulted in an exhibition entitled "Narrative microscopy – science through the lens of design," held at Césure in September 2025.Depuis 2023, une collaboration originale unit la formation DN MADe Design éco-responsable et l'Institut Pasteur. Des étudiants en design, des scientifiques et les membres du musée de l’Institut Pasteur explorent ensemble les frontières entre art, design et science.
2026 edition: using objects to evoke research
In 2026, with the support of furniture design professor Frédéric Valentin, the students had to produce objects inspired by the research of six PhD students at the Institut Pasteur: Coralie Renaud, Corentin Aube, Amélie Wileveau, Andréa Cottignies-Calamarte, Camille Keck and Arthur Lensen. The aim was to evoke research through an object designed to attract attention, stimulate curiosity and encourage people to find out more about the Institut Pasteur's scientific research.
After meeting PhD students and postdoctoral fellows, the students, divided into groups, created objects inspired by aspects they had observed or heard of during the discussions. They could choose between three types of object:
Jewelry, an object that is worn;
Tableware, culinary design;
Small furniture (tables, chairs, stools).
To produce their objects, they had access to all the equipment at the high school: a laser cutter, 3D printer, woodworking studio, sewing machine, etc. Each group also produced a poster to accompany their object, explaining their artistic approach and the technical research they had carried out.
Five projects were presented:
1) Aedes Lux
After meeting the scientist Coralie Renaud from the Insect Infection and Immunity five-year group led by Sarah Merkling, the students took inspiration from the Aedes Aegypti mosquito and its two stomachs to produce a two-part lamp. The aim was to create a lamp that connected two elements, making use of the transparency of plastic.
2) Mutatio
After meeting Corentin Aube and Maël Bessaud from the Virus Sensing and Signaling five-year unit led by Nolwenn Jouvenet, the students decided to explore the spread and constant mutations of enteroviruses though jewelry. An image of the virus served as the inspiration and main motif for the creative process.
3) Moducell
After meeting Amélie Wileveau from the Virus and Immunity Unit led by Olivier Schwartz, the students, inspired by microscopic observations of OC43 (a coronavirus variant), sought to depict the as yet unknown moment when the virus attempts to spread among cells by creating a modular cushion representing cell tissue.
4) Anti-Cov
After meeting Andréa Cottignies-Calamarte and Timothée Bruel from the Virus and Immunity Unit, the students sought to represent the interaction between microorganisms in a piece of shoulder jewelry, especially the way in which antibodies are able to bind to a virus to neutralize it and proteases are able to break the links between cells and the virus.
5) Nodulose
Following a discussion with Camille Keck and Arthur Lensen from the Dynamics of Host-Pathogen Interactions Unit led by Jost Enninga, the students focused on the bacteria responsible for shigellosis and tuberculosis, the spread of these pathogens and their interactions with the human body. Their work looks at the notions of propulsion, multiplication, infection and evolution.
The educational goal remained the same – to introduce the students to the challenges of scientific research, give them a chance to explore how design tools can be used for cultural outreach, and work in partnership with people outside their usual context.
"It is always a pleasure and an exciting adventure to host DN MADe students. The collaboration invariably reveals surprising and unexpected aspects of our projects, as our perception of things is completely different, and that is hugely refreshing. I am impressed by the ability of young designers to get to grips with our research. That is also a sign of the quality of the Institut Pasteur's students, who go to great lengths to make their research understandable and share their enthusiasm."
Timothée Bruel
Further information
ee the artworks produced by the DN MADe students on:
• Instagram
• Le site web
• YouTube