[AWARD] Lauren M. Gillespie to represent Lyon Saint-Étienne at next Starthèse challenge

On The May 21, 2024

On May 13, 2024, the final challenge of the Expl’aura Bootcamp, launched by PULSALYS, took place at the Hôtel de Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

On May 13, 2024, the Expl’aura Bootcamp jury selected the winning projects from each of the academic sites (Lyon Saint-Étienne, Clermont-Ferrand and Grenoble) in the presence of Catherine Staron, Vice-President for Higher Education, Research and Innovation for the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region.

The Université de Lyon congratulates the winner from the Lyon Saint-Étienne site, Lauren M. Gillespie, a young researcher at the Microbial Ecology Laboratory (Joint Research Unit 5557: Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INRAE) on the success of her project ThrivePlantbiota.

This fall, she will represent the Lyon Saint-Étienne academic site at the “Starthèse” national challenge led by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. More than 150 young researchers have already been supported by this program, which has launched high-impact projects and ultimately led to the creation of more than 15 high-potential start-ups. More information (in French)

This year, PUI IMPULSE supported 18 young researchers from the Lyon Saint-Étienne academic site, with support from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region.


PUI IMPULSE is an innovation coordination facility supported by 19 founding institutions and more than 35 partners from the region’s innovation ecosystem, including a lead partner (Université de Lyon ComUE), a strategic coordinator (Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) and an operational coordinator (PULSALYS). The project was funded by the French government as part of France 2030.