The Institut Pasteur du Cambodge had the pleasure of hosting the PhD defense of Ms. YEAN Sony on November 21st, 2025, at IPC. Sony has been part of the Medical and Veterinary Entomology Unit since its creation, and even before, during the early development of the platform. She presented her thesis entitled “Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases in Cambodia” (original title in French: « Les tiques et les maladies transmises par les tiques au Cambodge »).

Her research, conducted under the Doctoral School “Life Science and Health” of Paris-Saclay University, reflects three years of remarkable work on veterinary entomology and vector-borne diseases in Cambodia. We warmly congratulated Sony for her dedication, perseverance, and valuable contributions to the scientific community.

Sony expressed her sincere gratitude to the Medical and Veterinary Entomology Unit at IPC for their assistance with field data collection, and to Cambodian universities and institutions for providing access to their libraries and resources. She also thanked her thesis supervisors, Dr. Sébastien Boyer and Professor Fabienne Malagnac, for their expert guidance and unwavering support, as well as the PhD committee members, Dr. Sarah Bonnet and Dr. Nathalie Boulanger, for their invaluable insights. Further appreciation was given to Etienne Simon-Lorière for hosting her and supporting the NGS and bioinformatics work, and to Matthieu Prot and Artem Baidaliuk for their experimental assistance. She also extended thanks to rapporteurs Suzanne Bastian and Martin Pfeffer for their evaluation, and jury members Dr. Sara Moutailler and Dr. Lidia Chitimia-Dobler for their contributions. Gratitude was expressed to Dr. Pierre-Olivier Maquart for his guidance in scientific writing, and to Dr. Didier Fontenille for his mentorship during her master’s research.

Sony conveyed heartfelt appreciation to her family for their endless love and support throughout her PhD journey. She also expressed sincere gratitude to the French Embassy in Cambodia for their support through her BGF scholarship, and for funding the FSPI-VECAM project, which provided essential financial and technical support for her doctoral work.