Inserm Newsroom - Press room of the French national institute of health and medical research

A novel high-performance and non-invasive hybrid medical imaging technique

The rapidly-developing medical imaging field could well have found a novel technique in which multiple facets of a living being can be observed in real time and non-invasively. Teams from the Langevin Institute (ESPCI Paris – PSL University / CNRS), the biomedical ultrasound Technology Research Accelerator (Inserm A.R.T.) and the Paris-Cardiovascular Research Center (Inserm / Paris Descartes University) have developed a new medical imaging instrument which combines positron emission tomography – Pet-scan* – with ultrafast ultrasound imaging. Named PETRUS, the acronym of Positron Emission Tomography Registered Ultrafast Sonography, it has obtained 3D images in which organ anatomy, metabolism, function and even elasticity are perfectly superimposed. This research made the cover of the February 6 issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering.

The Biological Clock Sets a Different Rhythm for Each Organ

A team of Inserm researchers led by Howard Cooper (Inserm Unit 1208 “Stem Cell and Brain Institute”) in collaboration with their colleagues in the U.S. have for the first time established a reference map of gene expression, by organ and time of day. A mammoth task that began a decade ago and has required two years of analysis. These results, published in Science, show just how important it is to consider the biological clock in order to administer medication at the right time for optimized efficacy and minimal side effects. The researchers are now preparing an atlas which will be available for use by the entire scientific community.

Migraine: Regions of the Brain We Thought Felt No Pain

Could we have been wrong over the past 70 years in thinking that certain regions of the brain are insensitive to pain? This is what the findings of a team of researchers from Inserm, Nice University Hospital, Université Côte d’Azur and St Anne Hospital in Paris would suggest. By collecting observations of brief painful events occurring during brain surgery in awake patients, they found that certain structures – hitherto considered not to feel pain – were at the origin of pain sensations when stimulated mechanically. These findings, to be published shortly in Brain, open up new avenues for research into the treatment of headache and, in particular, migraine.

French Estates General 2018 on Bioethics

Prévus par la loi de bioéthique de 2011 et en amont de sa révision en 2018, les Etats généraux de la bioéthique se tiendront du 18 janvier au 7 juillet 2018. Ils ouvrent, à l’échelle nationale, un débat public organisé par le CCNE (Comité national d’éthique pour les sciences de la vie et de la santé).

French Estates General 2018 on Bioethics

Clever bacteria put human ingenuity to the test

How do bacteria manage to infect our body? What tactics do they use to slip through the cracks in our immune system? This is what the team of Thomas Henry, Inserm researcher, and his coworkers from the CNRS of Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University and the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon grouped within the International Center for Infectiology Research (CIRI) are trying to elucidate. In a paper published in Nature Communication, the researchers studied a key component in the escape mechanism of bacteria and found, in humans, the major player involved in its detection.

UK-France Summit. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Genomic Medicine, the Focus of the Agreement Supported by Aviesan

To become the most advanced and competitive genomics research and healthcare system in the world: such was the ambition declared by Inserm, and its partners Aviesan and Genomics England Ltd, during the UK-France Summit on January 18, 2018. An agreement was signed by Sir John Chisholm, Executive Chairman of Genomics England Ltd, and Yves Levy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inserm, and Chairman of Aviesan, which heads up the governmental “French Plan for Genomic Medicine 2025”. They signed it in the presence of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister, Theresa May.

New Antiviral Targets Identified to Combat Dengue

The dengue virus – like all other viruses – hijacks many of the host cell’s functions to accomplish its infectious cycle. For the very first time, researchers from Inserm, CNRS and Université Paris Diderot have recently identified all of the cellular factors that interact with the virus as it replicates. By providing proof of concept that some of these molecules can be inhibited, these scientists are paving the way for new antiviral therapies for dengue and also for other viruses in the same family, such as the Zika and West Nile viruses.

Could the Biological Clock Be a Key Ally in the Fight Against Inflammatory Disease?

What if the symptoms and seriousness of certain inflammatory diseases were linked to time of day? Researchers from Inserm, Institut Pasteur de Lille and Université de Lille[1] have been working on this hypothesis, after noting that the seriousness and mortality associated with fulminant hepatitis were dependent on the time at which the disease was induced. Their study, conducted on human cells and mice, shows that the anti-inflammatory action of a biological clock protein could prevent the onset of fulminant hepatitis, by alleviating symptoms and increasing survival rates.

Beware of Sustained Ibuprofen Use in Men

A recent study conducted by Inserm researchers within Irset[1] has shown that sustained ibuprofen use in young male athletes induces a hormonal imbalance known as “compensated hypogonadism”, usually observed in elderly males. This situation arises due to the negative effects of ibuprofen on testosterone production, and on the production of two other testicular hormones. These results have been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.