The lab keeps doing what it does best! This edition of the Quebec annual C. elegans meeting was a vibrant one rich in insights, knowledge and engagement. Special congratulations for everyone who participated: Ph.D. student Anna Caridys Ramírez Suárez for delivering a beautiful poster presentation 🌟 Ph.D. student Marin Pascal for an outstanding talk and for landing first place in the worm general knowledge Kahoot 🥇 Ph.D. student Ivan Valette for his talk, for which he deserv

Ph.D. student Ivan Valette has been selected to receive not one, but two prizes from the PRIE program to reward his student engagement: Personnality for 2nd & 3rd cycle students Personnality by excellence This program celebrates the remarkable commitment of the student community across various fields, ranging from academic perseverance and social innovation to culture, research, and entrepreneurship. Well done Ivan! 🥳

Last week, the Bénard lab participated to the international PROTEO symposium, that took place at ULAVAL from May 20th to the 22nd. Thank you to everyone that helped in setting up this fantastic event, and to all the incredible people that gave inspiring talks throughout the conference. Of course, well done to Ivan, Marin and Jeffrey for their posters! See you next year!

Ph.D. students Ivan Valette and Noémie Frébault have just learned that they have been chosen for funding by the NSERC Graduate Research Scholarship Doctoral program! Incredible news, congrats to both of these incredible students from all of the lab! 🎉🎉

Ph.D. student Noémie Frébault has delivered a sharp, well-spoken presentation for her doctoral exam, marking another big step forward in her doctorate's degree. Great job Noémie!!

Ph.D. student Noémie Frébault has received a Quebec-France Sophie Germain 2026 mobility scholarship! This award is a partnership between FRQ and the Consulat Général de France à Québec, and was given to Noémie in order to support her upcoming internship with Thomas Boulin at the Université Claude Bernard - Lyon 1. Fantastic Noémie, well done!

Ph.D. student Yann Aghiles Chabi gave a beautiful talk today at the UQAM Journée de la recherche en sciences, and was awarded Best Presentation of the day. Congrats Yann!

New B.Sc. intern Elisabeth Mouge has just received an Undergraduate Student Research Award from NSERC for her internship with us this summer, giving precious help to Marin with his Ph.D. project. Congrats Elisabeth! 🎉

Past lab member Victoria Cerdeira is creating books that make science fun, inclusive and accessible, empowering children from all backgrounds to engage with and see themselves in science. These will eventually include comic books, activity booklets and coloring books, all in english, french and spanish! Go check out FunSci Books! https://actualites.uqam.ca/2026/rendre-la-science-amusante-et-accessible/ https://www.funscibooks.com/ Congrats to Vicky from all of us ☀️

Ph.D. student Noémie Frébault has just been awarded a conference scholarship by the PROTEO network (Quebec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering, and Applications), to cover her expenses for the 2026 C. elegans Neurobiology Meeting in Bordeaux, France. Congrats Noémie and well done!

Marin Pascal, Ph.D. student gave an insightful talk at the Montreal C. elegans Monthly Meeting about neuron-glia interactions through SAX-7/L1CAM and neuronal architecture maintenance.

For this rendition of the CERMO-FC annual symposium, we had the great pleasure of having everyone in the lab presenting fantastic posters and showcasing their hard work in the past year. Special congrats to Ph.D. students Marin Pascal and Ivan Valette for landing the Best Poster Awards ! Very nice work everyone!

Noémie Frébault, Ph.D. student gave a talk at the CERMO-FC Research Center Meeting about alternative protein ALTZYX-1 and was awarded best oral presentation . Congrats again!

M.Sc. student Jeffrey Killeen and Ph.D. student Ivan Valette have jointly been awarded the 2025 edition of the CERMO-FC Féline-Antoine Aublet Scholarship, for their ongoing work on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neuronal dysfunction in MPS diseases. Outstanding work, well done to both of you!!

Congrats to Ph.D. students Yann Aghiles Chabi and Marin Pascal for their great poster presentations at the 2025 International Worm Meeting at UC Davis, shining more light on our lab on a global scale!

Noémie Frébault, Ph.D student gave a great talk this morning at the 2025 International Worm Meeting at UC Davis on AltZyxin, an alternative protein translated from the same transcript as Zyxin, and it's regulation of muscle biology. Very well done!

Dr. Malika Nadour officially and brilliantly defended her Ph.D. thesis yesterday, marking the completion of her (second!) doctoral degree. Congratulations on this remarkable achievement, Malika! Your wisdom, generosity, and positive spirit have left a lasting impact on the lab, bringing insight and smiles to everyone around you. We are incredibly proud of you and are excited to see what comes next. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Very nice work to all of you today!

Ivan Valette, Ph.D. student gave an informative talk at the Quebec Worm Meeting at UQTR today on MIG-6/papilin as a global regulator of the extracellular matrix that affects TGF-β signaling . Well done!

Yann Aghiles Chabi, Ph.D. student gave an informative talk at the Quebec Worm Meeting at UQTR today on dietary restriction, and it's preservation of neuronal integrity during aging via PHA-4/FOXA-mediated regulation of the cell adhesion molecule SAX-7/L1 . Well done!

Dr. Raphaël Dima successfully and flawlessly defended his Ph.D. thesis yesterday, earning his well-deserved doctoral degree. Congratulations on this remarkable milestone, Raphaël! Your insight, creative thinking and warm spirit have left a lasting impact on the lab. We are very proud of you and are excited to see what comes next! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

M.Sc. student Jeffrey Killeen has just received a two year master's scholarship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé. Great news, well done Jeffrey!!

Ph.D. student Noémie Frébault has just received a four year doctoral scholarship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé. Great news, well done Noémie!!

Ph.D. student Noémie Frébault gave a very interesting talk yesterday at the 2025 UQAM Research Day about AltZyxin, an alternative muscle protein. Great work!