Science & Community

Gene & Tonic Cité & public science engagement.

Community building, science communication, outreach and mentoring alongside my research career.

Gene & Tonic Cité

Life Sciences & Medicine at CIUP.

Gene & Tonic Cité is a resident-led Life Sciences and Medicine community at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris.

I co-founded the initiative with Sofia Tagkalidou to create an informal interdisciplinary format combining accessible scientific presentations, discussion, networking and community activities.

Participants include researchers, doctoral and Master's students, healthcare professionals and people interested in science.

2025–2026

First-year activity.

Programme scale and institutional support during the first academic year.

Programme

5 Chapters

Five Gene & Tonic chapters during the 2025–2026 academic year.

Community

200+ Members

Interdisciplinary community across CIUP and beyond.

Participation

70+ Participants

Participants across scientific and community activities.

Institutional Support

€1,500 FIR 2026

Project support through the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris FIR programme.

Gene & Tonic participants together at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris — Gene & Tonic Cité · Paris
Community gathering during the initiative's first academic year at CIUP.

Five Chapters

Science discussed in different ways.

Five chapters spanning biomedical research, space biology, scientific history and a natural-science outing.

Chapter 01 · March 2026

Immune Tolerance

Regulatory T cells, FOXP3 and immune tolerance, combined with participant introductions.

Chapter 02 · March 2026

Brain Organoids & Biological Rhythms

Guest presentation by Dr Miguel Olmedo, followed by discussion of artificial intelligence in the life sciences.

Chapter 03

Human Biology Beyond Earth

Artemis, human physiology in space and the biological challenges of sustaining human health beyond Earth.

Chapter 04

Ideas Shaped at the Cité

A short exploration of CIUP's scientific and intellectual history.

Chapter 05 · July 2026

Exploring the Natural World

A scientific community outing to the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution, Jardin des Plantes and Grandes Serres, followed by a shared picnic.

Gene & Tonic in Practice

Presentation, discussion & community.

Selected moments from scientific presentations, discussion and community activities.

Audience listening during a Gene & Tonic scientific presentation at CIUP — **Scientific presentation · CIUP** Research shared in an accessible interdisciplinary setting.

Participants taking part in a small-group Gene & Tonic scientific discussion — **Small-group discussion · Gene & Tonic** Questions and conversation are built into the format.

Gene & Tonic participants outdoors during the Chapter 05 science outing and picnic — **Chapter 05 · science outing & picnic** Scientific community activity beyond the seminar room.

Format & Support

How the initiative is organised.

A lightweight format centred on accessible science, discussion and community.

How it works

Learn, discuss, meet & explore.

LearnAccessible scientific presentations grounded in research

DiscussQuestions, debates, polls and interdisciplinary discussion

MeetIntroductions and informal networking

ExploreScience-oriented cultural outings beyond seminar rooms

Organisation

People & institutional support.

Co-foundersRonald Saraswat & Sofia Tagkalidou

TeamRonald Saraswat · Sofia Tagkalidou · Slimane

SupportFIR 2026 · Cité internationale universitaire de Paris

CollaborationMaison des Étudiants Francophones and community partners

Beyond Gene & Tonic

Public engagement & mentoring.

Science communication has also been part of my research experience outside Paris.

During Mainzer Science Week in 2022, I contributed to “A Sip of Science”, helping communicate the scientific activities of the TiCardio consortium in an informal public-engagement setting.

I have also supported Master's and doctoral researchers through experimental reasoning, troubleshooting and scientific discussion.

A Sip of Science public-engagement event during Mainzer Science Week — A Sip of Science · Mainzer Science Week · 2022

A Sip of Science event poster featuring TiCardio researchers — Event poster · TiCardio public engagement

Scientific Visual Communication

Conceptual scientific illustrations.

Explore the separate visual-development project and its reuse conditions.

Scientific Visuals Research