Physics-Biology interface seminar – for speakers

Reimbursements: important procedures

Speakers are kindly asked to follow the procedure corresponding to their situation before their visit (ideally allow for a two-weeks margin to make our work easier):

Speakers working in a CNRS-affiliated laboratory (UMR, UPR, EMR, IRL or UAR with a tutelle CNRS):

  1. Make sure your Notilus profile exists and is up to date.
  2. Declare your mission in Etamine and select Claudine Le Vaou as your valideur budgétaire.
  3. « Transmit » your mission request to your lab director and have them validate your mission. In some labs an administrator may have the power to do this validation in the director’s stead.
  4. After this validation, estimate your upcoming expenses and book your travel and hotel using Notilus. When visiting LPTMS we recommend staying at the nearby Hotel d’Orsay (not to be confused with its much more expensive parisian namesake).
  5. Once all this is done, notify Claudine Le Vaou and Delphine Hannoy so that they can issue your ordre de mission.

Hotels in Orsay booked outside of this procedure will only be reimbursed up to 70 € (110 € in Paris). Transportation booked outside of this procedure will not be reimbursed. After your visit you will need to declare your hours and create your état de frais by adding your receipts in Notilus before your reimbursements can be processed. If you are not employed by CNRS you must also request an ordre de mission sans frais from your own lab.

Other speakers: Send us an email using this template to save time and make sure you are providing all required information. You are encouraged to book your transportation yourself, and may also do so for your accommodation. Hotel nights will be reimbursed up to 170 €/night. If you would like us to book your accommodation, request it as soon as possible using the template. Per CNRS policy, we only cover economy class travel and AirBnB accommodation cannot be reimbursed. Send all original receipts to Claudine Le Vaou and Delphine Hannoy after your visit.

To reduce greenhouse gases emissions we encourage speakers to avoid flying when possible and take the train, even at a higher cost. Please consult with Martin if the total of your expenses exceeds 300 € for domestic travel or 450 € for international travel. Note that we can only issue reimbursements to individuals, not institutions (thus you should not have your university buy your tickets for you).

Audience and format

Our audience comprises Physicists and Biologists of the Paris-Saclay area involved in the interface between Physics and Biology. A majority of them are experimentalists from areas as diverse as imaging, electron microscopy or cytoskeleton regulation, with a sometimes large minority of theorists. On the days where our seminars are joint with LPS, this crowd is joined by several non-bio soft matter physicists. Because of the wide variety of attendees, it is good to begin with an introduction to the topic which is intelligible to first-year grad students in the physical sciences. After a while the talk should proceed to a research level. Theorists are advised not to overly rely on equations to make their points, and biologists should be aware that most of the proteins/genes they might be introducing will be new to the audience.

The format of the seminar is a ~45 min. presentation followed by questions. Questions are often asked during the talks, and we kindly ask that speakers take this into account in the timing of their presentations. The total seminar (presentation + questions) should not go over an hour.

Planning your visit

We enjoy discussions with our speakers before and after their seminar, and usually schedule several ~45-min discussion slots with local researchers in the morning and/or afternoon of the speaker’s visit. Please consider spending at least part of the day in Orsay for this, and let us know if you are interested in meeting with anyone in particular.

The most convenient way to get to Orsay is usually the RER B commuter train to Massy-Palaiseau, Le Guichet or Orsay-Ville. Once there, follow the directions to LPTMS; you can also use this map. You can plan your RER itinerary on the RATP website. You may also download printable maps of the metro and RER networks. To shorten their journey, travelers are advised to arrive into and leave from the Massy TGV train station or Orly airport if the option is available. The time and location of each talk is specified on the seminar’s main page.

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