INSTITUT IMAGINE PLACES INTERNATIONAL ATTRACTIVENESS, DATA SCIENCE AND INNOVATIVE TREATMENTS AT THE HEART OF ITS ROADMAP TO 2035

Bringing French research to the highest international level within 10 years

The ambition of Institut Imagine (Inserm, AP-HP, Université Paris Cité) for the coming years is not only to develop national and international research collaborations, but above all to further promote the training and recruitment of top-level medical researchers worldwide. While research is progressing with results that benefit patients, the challenge for the next decade is to renew talent and attract young international researchers and professors. To boost this offer, the Institute is announcing the opening of new junior professorships, whose expertise will help position the Imagine Institute as an international center of excellence in genetics. This influence is also to be achieved through better sharing of the data produced by the institute's research laboratories, and the creation of a website dedicated to knowledge and systems biology. Accessible to federated learning partnerships, it will enable science to be shared and knowledge to be decompartmentalized for the benefit of all researchers and physicians.

While the Institute's high level of research is already guaranteed by an independent, international assessment, from a scientific point of view, its ambitions are twofold. Firstly, the Institute wishes to develop “biological chemistry” to facilitate the transition from molecule discovery to proof of concept of its therapeutic value, by promoting interdisciplinarity (molecule modeling, new molecule design, etc.). It also aims to take Data Science even further, by integrating clinical data with multi-omics and experimental data to improve the prognosis of genetic diseases, but also the prediction of responses to treatments and therapeutic possibilities.

Making the most of the French model: the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) label for genetic diseases

With the creation of Institut Imagine, France has created a unique model, imagined by Prof. Claude Griscelli, is characterized by its interdisciplinary nature, integrating research, medicine, education and development at the highest level, as well as philanthropic innovation. In just 10 years, IHU Imagine has become an internationally recognized center for research, care and teaching in genetic diseases. Its proximity to the Hôpital Necker-Enfants malades AP-HP has enabled it to bring together the best doctors, researchers and healthcare staff in a single place and action, in a synergy-creating architecture designed by Jean Nouvel and Bernard Valero. “A unique continuum of care, this collaboration has enabled patients to benefit from the agility and flexibility of the private sector, while retaining the stability, support and strength of the public healthcare system,” confirms Prof. Arnold Munnich, Chairman of the Foundation.

These methods have also reaffirmed the importance of studying rare hereditary diseases, in order to understand common diseases and their clinical expression. Institut Imagine has been able to operationalize an interdisciplinary approach through clinical and fundamental research that encompasses all organs, from brain to bone, not forgetting heart, eye, skin and kidneys; research that addresses questions in genetics, development, immunology and neuroscience. For future director Prof. Bana Jabri, Imagine offers the unique opportunity “to adopt a physiologically-based approach to research and medicine, which takes into account the whole person, not just one organ at a time”. This cross-disciplinary approach gives us the opportunity to innovate in the fields of prevention, diagnosis and therapy. For Prof. Stanislas Lyonnet, Director of Institut Imagine since 2016, following in the footsteps of Prof. Alain Fischer: “the Institute is a unique model at the crossroads of Research and Care, which has fostered proximity, responsiveness and flexibility to change the lives of researchers, but above all of our patients”.

Read the complete press release (in french)