Conference debate - Thursday 9 April 2026 - Usine Electrique auditorium - 7pm - Allauch.

Speaker Laurie Casalot, researcher at the Institut de recherche pour le développement, lnstitut Méditerranéen d'Océanologie in Marseille.

On Earth and in the oceans, many living organisms produce their own light to communicate, defend themselves or attract prey: this is bioluminescence. While the function of this light in macroscopic animals is fairly well understood, its role in bacteria remains more mysterious. Why do they emit light when they are only a few microns in size? What are the evolutionary advantages? Can we take advantage of this light in our societies? Bioluminescent bacteria open up some fascinating avenues, particularly in terms of biomimicry, for signage, design and architecture. Studying these micro-organisms means exploring a field of research at the interface between microbial ecology, genetics and genomics, where each discipline sheds light on the other - literally and figuratively.