An academic researcher uses art to demystify science

At a time when mistrust of thinkers seems to be taking up more space, a biochemist from New Brunswick believes it is scientists’ duty to demystify science.

Originally from Bas-Cap-Pelé, Yves Brun has had an impressive science career over the past 30 years.

The son of teacher parents, he explains that his interest in science came to him from his father, who was studying physics and chemistry.

“When we were children,” he recalls, “my father asked all kinds of questions to me and my brother to get us thinking. He asked us, for example, how clouds or rainbows are formed.

According to the researcher, the questions his father asked him awakened in him the desire to understand the world and made him a great reader.

Passionate about literature

In addition to devouring science books, Yves Brun also fell in love with literature.

Even an enthusiastic high school teacher made him want to pursue literature studies.

During his first semester at the University of Moncton, he enrolled in a health science diploma. After one semester, he’s still reluctant to jump into literature, but he ends up choosing biochemistry.

After completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Acadée, he set out for Quebec and completed his doctoral studies at Université Laval in 1990.

After postdoctoral studies at Stanford University in California, Yves Brun became a professor in the Department of Biology at Indiana University in 1993.

He did not return to Canada until 2018 after obtaining a professorship in the Department of Microbiology, Infectionology and Immunology at the University of Montreal.

Yves Brun holds one of Canada’s 25 research chairs 150 and is now interested in antibiotic resistance of bacteria. Funding under this research chair, in the amount of $7 million over seven years, is being used specifically for research into new antibiotics to combat resistance.

Demystify science

During his career, Mr. Brun has contributed nearly 150 scientific articles to reputable journals such as Nature and Science and Cell.

Today, the funding he receives through his research chair allows him to popularize science and share his love of science with the general public.

In particular, he has collaborated with Montreal artist and scholar Jones Hélène Isetan to create The Poetry of Bacteria, a conference for the general public, sold out nine times, at the Society of Technological Arts (SAT), in Montreal, in 2022.

Yves Brun worried that two years into the pandemic, few people would want to hear more about germs. The response to the event was such that he is now convinced that scientists should do more to get to Mr. and Mrs. Everyone.

Demystifying science is more important than ever, and the pandemic has been eloquent evidence of the fact that there is a lack of scientific culture in society, says the researcher who will be named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2021.

This is one of the reasons why he is considering again collaborating with artists to put together a conference for the general public whose goal is to demystify the way scientific knowledge is constructed.

“We have to demystify the science and take the time to do so,” explains Yves Brun. I like the idea of ​​using art to reach other audiences, like we did on the SAT. In the end, we would like to prepare for a conference and explain how we reach a scientific consensus, how scientific knowledge is built, and that sometimes changes. During an epidemic, we can notice that sometimes people get upset when it happens and give the impression of improvisation. The fact that conclusions can change is positive because they are based on information that researchers have.