ALL HAIL MR PASTEUR...

So this week I started work at the Institut Pasteur. This very famous french research insitute is named after Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1895), who worked here. The building my laboratory is in is one of the original buildings (i.e. it looks beautiful from the outside but inside it is a mess!).

For those uninformed readers, Louis Pasteur is considered to be one of the grandfathers of microbiology. He invented pasteurisation, proved the Germ Theory and also produced the first vaccine which was for rabies. Pasteur demonstrated that the fermentation process is caused by the growth of microorganisms, and that the growth of microorganisms in broths was not due to spontaneous generation, an idea which was favoured by many scientists at the time. So for one lifetime he achieved a hell of a lot..... puts my 5 papers to shame!

So the best thing about the Institut Pasteur is the cafeteria. No joke. Everyone the world over talks about this place. Basically the Institute heavily subsidises the cost of food (you have to in France if you have over a certain number of people working for you. If you don't have a cafeteria you give your workers food vouchers for cafes.) and all the food is awarded a certain number of points. Depending on your level a point is worth a certain number of euros. This means students pay the least and lab heads pay the most. So yesterday I had a plate of roast chicken, cauliflour and rice, and a mandarin for the bargain price of 2.89 euros!! And the amount of food everyone eats is crazy. Everything is available - 2 meats, fish, vegetables, desserts, fruit and salads. So I can already tell the highlight of my days will be lunch.... only 2 hours to go!