Researchers and technical staff from the University of Rennes and Masaryk University came together in Rennes for a two-day workshop on April 28–29, 2025, aimed at fostering deeper collaboration between research infrastructures in the field of molecular analysis.
The workshop brought together representatives from BIOSIT - the support and research unit in biology and health at the University of Rennes - and CEITEC, the Central European Institute of Technology of Masaryk University. A total of 10 core facilities participated —five from each institution—creating a unique opportunity to exchange expertise, visit the University of Rennes’ facilities, and lay the groundwork for long-term partnerships.
“Bringing together our research teams was a wonderful opportunity to better understand our respective expertise and to identify complementary strengths,” shares Yannick Arlot, Research Director in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the Institute of Genetics & Development of Rennes and lead for the initiative. “At the heart of this project was a strong commitment to building sustainable collaborations between our researchers and facilities.”
Participants toured the molecular analysis research infrastructures at the University of Rennes and engaged in structured discussions on collaborative potential. Several promising areas for future joint initiatives were identified, including:
- Focused scientific partnerships in areas such as encapsulation techniques, microfluidics, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and duplicate analysis methods to strengthen quality control.
- Industrial collaboration, particularly through improved facility management practices, enhanced service offerings, and the development of institutional partnerships.
- Capacity building via master-level internships, lecturer exchanges, and short-term technician positions for recent graduates.
- Annual joint workshops to promote networking, share best practices, and create new collaborative opportunities.
“From the start, we recognised this initiative as a vehicle for strengthening competencies, improving access to research infrastructure, and increasing international visibility,” said Jiri Novacek, Deputy Director for Research Infrastructure at CEITEC and head of its Cryo-EM and Tomography Core Facility. “It has the potential to truly build capacity on both sides.”
The collaboration extended beyond the workshop. Romain Gibeaux, Co-Head of the Core Facility at the University of Rennes and CNRS researcher at TEM2C, followed up with a visit to CEITEC and Masaryk University from May 24–30.
“Visiting CEITEC was incredible,” Gibeaux shared. “CEITEC is a multidisciplinary research centre with cutting-edge technologies and highly qualified scientists. This visit allowed us to kick off an EDUC-WIDE infrastructure project with Jiri Novacek’s team and launch initial AFM experiments with Jan Pribyl, Head of the Nanobiotechnology Core Facility. The results were so promising that we submitted a second Instruct application to keep moving forward.”
This initiative was made possible through the EDUC-WIDE Knowledge Exchange Scheme, which supports collaboration across the European Research Area (ERA) by encouraging institutions to reflect on their internal strengths and explore complementarities with external partners.
For many researchers involved, the scheme opened doors to international networks they had previously found difficult to access or not thought of—an opportunity that can be transformative not only for their research but for their careers.
The Rennes-Masaryk collaboration is part of a broader initiative within the EDUC Alliance, which has fostered the creation of four additional thematic research networks:
- Digital Humanities
- Genomics & Bioinformatics
- Demography & Sociology
- Micro & Nanotechnology
In total, 28 core facilities are involved across these themes, demonstrating a strong and growing commitment to collaborative science and knowledge exchange within the alliance.
To learn more about the core facilities linked to the Molecular Analysis initiative in EDUC-WIDE:
| Université de Rennes | Biology, Health and Technological innovation (BIOSIT) |
| Spectroscopy: Molecular Interactions and structure, Circular Dichroism, Fluorescence, Microscale Thermophoresis (SSIM) | |
| Multimodal Imaging and Spectroscopy Research Platform (PRISM) | |
| Proteomes & Images (PROTIM) | |
| Transmission Electron Microscopy, Cryo & CLEM (TEM2C) | |
| Bio-Impression and Microfluidic (BIM3D) | |
| Masaryk University | Biomolecular Interactions and Crystallography |
| Cryo-electron Microscopy and Tomography | |
| Josef Dadok National NMR Centre | |
| Genomics | |
| Nanobiotechnology | |
| Proteomics |