Damien KERSPERN Cohesion Ambassador 2018-19
Hello, today we’ll be presenting someone you will truly love because he’s part of the cohesion pole, which means he’s the one organizing parties!! Here is Kerspern Damien.
After his baccalaureate, Damien orientated himself towards a first year of pharmacology, then a physiology program in Poitiers.
He’s currently a PhD student under the direction of Alexandre Charlet, working on glia-oxytocinergic neuron interaction in the modulation of emotions with negative valence “Basically, I want to show that oxytocin is awesome and that astrocytes are the most important cells in the brain” And only that !
It’s when he discovered electrophysiology while working on cardiac fibroblasts that the passion came. “When Alex offered to work on astrocytes, cells that undergo the same fate, abandoned and forgotten by all, only good for cleaning and feeding the neurons, I grabbed my chance to fight against neurocentrist oppression. More seriously though, I’ve always loved “knowledge for knowledge”, caracteristic of fundamental research. Even though it’s been a few decades that we’ve been more and more interested in glial cells, there’s still so much to learn, and we’re never bored, and we’re always discovering new things”.
Ideally, Damien would like to continue with a post-doc in the field of glial cells and neuropeptide. In the long run, he would like to find a position as a titular in a lab, and also get the chance to teach to students.
When we asked him what brought him to invest himself in Doctoneuro, Damien answered “In Poitiers, we founded an association with some friends, meant to facilitate transdisciplinarity and cohesion between different fields. Back then, I had really liked doing that and when I learned that there was an association in neuroscience, I immediately wanted to be part of the adventure. So here I am.”
His goals for Doctoneuro are to organize events that will facilitate students meeting , creating relationships and consolidate cohesion, no matter what their origin. « That’s why we want to axe the parties around international themes and activities that don’t need French. »
His last words : “Keep in mind that scientists are just big kids, with many ideas, to whom we have given thousand-euro toys. So don’t forget to have fun in everything you do !!”