Night of Ideas

This event, sponsored by Alliance Française de Pasadena and Caltech, will feature presentations by Eloise Masquelier, postdoctoral research associate in chemical engineering; Esther Lahoud-Heilbronner is a postdoctoral scholar research associate in isotopic chemistry; and Lucas Lange, a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at JPL.

Click here to register. RSVP before April 15, 11:59 p.m.
Drinks and hors d'oeuvre will be offered. 

Join the Alliance Française de Pasadena and Caltech for an inspiring evening as part of the global Night of Ideas, a celebration of knowledge, innovation, and dialogue.

This special event will bring together leading researchers to explore cutting-edge discoveries, from the microscopic world of proteins to the vast landscapes of Mars, and new frontiers in human health.

From Squid Camouflage to Alzheimer's Disease: What Protein Electrochemistry Reveals

Dr. Eloise Masquelier, Caltech

Nature has spent billions of years perfecting proteins—microscopic machines capable of remarkable feats, such as enabling a squid to disappear before our eyes. Yet when these systems fail, they can lead to devastating diseases like Alzheimer's. Dr. Masquelier will present a new method to manipulate protein structures, opening new pathways to understand and potentially address neurodegenerative diseases.

The Many Faces of Mars

Dr. Lucas Lange, NASA Postdoctoral Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars today is a cold and dry planet, but its surface tells a very different story. Through climate, weather, and geological observations, Dr. Lange will explore how Mars has evolved over time and what its past reveals about planetary change—and what remains to be discovered.

Metal Isotopes: A New Window Into Human Mental Health

Dr. Esther Lahoud-Heilbronner, Caltech

A new scientific field known as metallomics is transforming how we understand human health. By studying elements such as calcium, copper, and zinc—and subtle variations in their isotopes—researchers can gain new insights into diseases. This talk will highlight innovative approaches to early detection of conditions such as Alzheimer's and osteoporosis using advanced analytical techniques.

An evening at the crossroads of science, culture, and discovery

Following the presentations, a Q&A session will allow for dialogue between speakers and the audience.

We look forward to welcoming you for this exceptional collaboration between Alliance Française de Pasadena and Caltech, where science meets curiosity and global perspectives.

More info about the speakers: 

Dr. Esther Lahoud-Heilbronner is a postdoctoral scholar research associate in isotopic chemistry with a focus on biomedical applications at Caltech. She studied biology, chemistry, and neuroscience at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (2018-2022). She then completed her Ph.D. in 2025 in isotope geochemistry at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris under the supervision of Prof. Frédéric Moynier, where she developed a novel isotopic diagnostic approach for Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Lahoud-Heilbronner recently joined Prof. Francois Tissot's lab, The Isotoparium, at Caltech where her research continues to explore isotopic methods applied to medical science, with a recent focus on osteoporosis.

Outside of her research, she is a wildlife photographer and passionate about ornithology.

Dr. Lucas Lange is a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he models the thermodynamical conditions at the surface of Europa, one of Jupiter's icy moons, to support the future interpretation of E-THEMIS measurements aboard the Europa Clipper mission. He specializes in the analysis of visible and thermal infrared data, as well as climate modeling. His research also explores the evolution of the Martian climate over the past million years in response to obliquity-driven changes, and the interactions between planetary surfaces and their atmospheres. Dr. Lange obtained an engineering degree from ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, France, in 2021. In the same year, he also obtained a Master of Science in Astrophysics and Planetary Science from the University of Toulouse. He then pursued a PhD in Planetary Science at the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (CNRS/Sorbonne Université) in Paris, where he studied and modeled the dynamics of water and CO₂ ice on Mars.

Dr. Eloise Masquelier is a postdoctoral scholar research associate in Chemical Engineering at Caltech in the lab of Professor Sujit Datta. She studied Materials Science at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland where she earned her bachelor and master before joining University of California, Santa Barbara to complete her PhD. There, she combined electrochemistry and spectroscopy to study dynamic biomolecular processes.