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

Yves Lévy, Chairman and CEO of Inserm, appointed member of the UN “Global Health Crises” Task Force

UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon has just announced the creation of a “Global Health Crises” Task Force, which will bring together 3 co-leads and 12 members, including Inserm Chairman and CEO Yves Lévy. The Task Force will ensure the implementation and monitoring of the recommendations of the report, “Protecting humanity from future health crises,” submitted to the UN Secretary-General in February 2016 by the High-level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crises[1]. The main mission of the Task Force will be to alert the UN Secretary-General on matters related to emerging crises and any gaps or weaknesses in the world health system.

Ethical issues surrounding CRISPR-Cas9 technology

On 13 June last, the Inserm Ethics Committee assembled over a hundred individuals at its annual seminar. All those present had the benefit of an ethical perspective on many problems posed by biomedical research. One of the questions addressed was that of CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The Ethics Committee has devoted a specific opinion to it, while the NIH has just obtained a first green light for a human cancer immunotherapy trial.

Presentation of the French Plan for Genomic Medicine 2025

The French Plan for Genomic Medicine 2025 was presented to Prime Minister Manuel Valls by Yves Lévy, President of the National Alliance for Life Sciences and Health (Aviesan) and CEO of Inserm, on 22 June 2016.

Brain tumours: for the first time, ultrasound makes blood vessels permeable to enhance treatment delivery

Teams from the Paris Public Hospitals (AP-HP), Pierre and Marie Curie University, Inserm and the CarThera company, coordinated by Prof. Alexandre Carpentier, have successfully used ultrasound to temporarily permeabilise blood vessels in the brains of patients affected by recurrent malignant brain tumours.

A novel research program on traumatic memories

How will the traumatic events of the terrorist attacks of 13 November 2015 evolve in people’s memories, whether collective or individual? How does individual memory feed on collective memory and vice versa? Is it possible, by studying cerebral markers, to predict which victims will develop post-traumatic stress disorder and which will recover more quickly?

Innovative implants for repairing cartilage

A team from Inserm, under the direction of Nadia Benkirane-Jessel, has developed a new generation of bone and joint implants

Launching of UEFA EURO 2016 Football Championships

France will be hosting the UEFA EURO 2016 Football Championships from Friday 10 June to Sunday 10 July. During this competition, many parts of the players’ bodies will be severely tested.

Although the benefits of regular physical activity on physical and mental health have been demonstrated by many studies, what are the risks associated with excessive physical exercise? What methods would allow athletes to optimise their physical abilities? Do some activities promote addiction to sport? What are the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the motivation of athletes?

Launching of UEFA EURO 2016 Football Championships

France will be hosting the UEFA EURO 2016 Football Championships from Friday 10 June to Sunday 10 July. During this competition, many parts of the players’ bodies will be severely tested. Although the benefits of regular physical activity on physical and mental health have been demonstrated by many studies, what are the risks associated with […]

Anorexia nervosa: pleasure at getting thin more than fear of getting fat

A study from Inserm, Paris Descartes University and Sainte Anne Hospital suggests that anorexia nervosa might not be explained by fear of gaining weight, but by the pleasure of losing it… and that the phenomenon might be genetically influenced. Published in Translational Psychiatry, this study, directed by Prof. Gorwood, head of the Clinic for Mental and Brain Diseases, challenges the notion of fear of weight gain in anorexia patients.

Epigenomic alterations contribute to obesity-associated diabetes

Des chercheurs de l’Inserm et de l’Université Pierre et Marie Curie du Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, en collaboration avec des chercheurs de l’institut Karolinska en Suède, ont décrit le mécanisme par lequel le facteur GPS2 réprime la survenue du diabète de type 2 chez les personnes obèses. Ces travaux, publiés dans la revue Nature Medicine, mettent en lumière l’importance de l’épigénome dans l’apparition de la maladie.