A still from the Inserm commercial. © Directed by: Ugo Mangin, production: Yohannes Cousy

One year after its large-scale poster campaign in France’s railway stations and Paris subway, Inserm uses its slogan On gagne tous les jours à s’intéresser à la santé [We always benefit from focusing on health] in a 30-second TV commercial broadcast from June 7 to July 30.

Directed by Ugo Mangin with the support of the Insign agency and commissioned by Inserm’s Communications Department, this commercial illustrates just how many of our daily actions are – without our knowing – the result of research conducted at the Institute.

Throughout the 30-second sequence, the viewer is immersed in the thoughts of a woman, who is out and about and comments on the everyday scenes she sees around her. This is how we find out that a saxophonist has preserved his breathing thanks to specific proteins, that the Nutri-Score enables a young woman to eat a healthy sandwich, and that a middle-aged man continues to skateboard thanks to his chondrocytes.

In keeping with the 2022 poster campaign, the commitment to integrating surprising and complex science into an everyday scene was maintained in order to engage viewers and encourage them to visit Inserm’s website to find out more.

“Inserm is a strong brand, a label of quality in terms of health science that French people trust. Nevertheless, we need to be even more visible and anchored in everyone’s daily lives in order to communicate on our research as close as possible to where the needs are and show the findings of that research. This campaign is the link between the biomedical science produced at Inserm and its concrete translation for the health of us all,” points out the Communications Department.

“The COVID-19 crisis has shown just how medical research is essential to our health. Through this commercial, we wanted to make the impact of our research visible to everyone. It is essential for the general public to realize that excellence in research is conducive to quality medicine. It is our role to find more promising and effective new treatments as our knowledge advances,” explains Prof. Didier Samuel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inserm.

June 1 to 15, 2023 will mark the third edition of InScience – a festival held by Inserm for visitors to discover and discuss questions of health and medical research. With its rich program deployed across France, InScience is particularly intended for young people, enabling everyone to learn more about Inserm’s work and become actively involved in their own health.  With meetups with scientists, podcasts, videos, virtual reality games, comic books… there is something for all tastes.

For the past three years, InScience has aimed to break taboos surrounding health, counter stereotypes of the world of research, and bring the scientists and general public closer together – enabling the two worlds to meet directly. This festival reflects Inserm’s desire to democratize scientific research and make it more transparent, giving each individual the tools to become actively involved in their own health.

Support from the French National Research Agency (ANR)[1] means that this year the festival is bigger than ever, offering a richer program than previous editions. Original forms of scientific popularization, including podcasts, an original comic, escape games, and a partnership with Tik Tok influencer Tangleroux complete the offering. Places that are very popular with the general public, such as Ground Control in Paris, will host scientific mediation activities.

The highly comprehensive program (see below), with events that can be attended in person or online, seeks to make medical research advances accessible to all citizens, regardless of where they live. The events will be hosted in no fewer than 24 places in 12 French cities, and are open to everyone free of charge.

[1] Inserm’s various regional offices had responded together and won the ANR call for proposals on the theme of Science with and for society (SwafS)

Didier-Samuel ® Christophe-PEUS

Appointed today in the Council of Ministers following the proposal of the Minister of Higher Education and Research and the Minister of Health and Prevention, Professor Didier Samuel becomes Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inserm.

Doctor and researcher, Didier Samuel has devoted himself to both fields throughout his career.

Professor of Hepatology at Université Paris-Saclay, Director of the Department of Hepatology and Hepatic Intensive Care at Paul-Brousse Hospital and Medical Director of the liver transplant program at the same hospital, Samuel has treated and monitored over 4,500 liver transplant patients. Dean of the Paris-Saclay Faculty of Medicine since 2017 and elected Chair of the Conference of Deans of Medicine in 2022, he also chaired France’s National Committee for Research Coordination.

Since 2005, Samuel led an Inserm research unit devoted to the physiopathogenesis and treatment of liver diseases. His expertise in the field of liver diseases and liver transplantation is internationally renowned.

“I am pleased and honored to have been appointed to carry out the important mission of chairing Inserm, which plays a central role in medical research in France. Committed to the quality of our scientific research, convinced that it is also the foundation for high-quality medicine, it is my wish to promote innovation, excellence, and fruitful coordination among all who endeavor for our biomedical research, serving the health of all citizens,” declares Professor Didier Samuel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inserm.

© Inserm

“Awarding the Inserm Prizes is a key point in the Institute’s life, enabling us to showcase the various talents of our staff and the great wealth of the research we conduct to form a common front for the health of our fellow citizens. But it is also an opportunity to emphasize our involvement at the heart of society, our commitment to scientific research that is effective, ethical and accessible to as many people as possible,” states Inserm CEO, Gilles Bloch.

This year, the Inserm Prizes are awarded to five individuals whose results and commitment to high-quality research demonstrate scientific excellence and the Institute’s central place in society. The Inserm 2022 Grand Prize goes to Olivier Delattre, an oncopediatrician whose work has led to major discoveries in childhood cancers.

Olivier Delattre, Inserm Grand Prize

Olivier Delattre © Inserm/François Guénet

“Once a pediatrician, always a pediatrician,” may well be the expression that best describes Olivier Delattre’s commitment. Director of the Cancer, heterogeneity, instability and plasticity unit (unit 830 Inserm/Institut Curie), this researcher began his career by studying medicine, during which he developed an interest in pediatrics. His time with the Pediatric oncology department of Institut Curie in Paris encouraged him to specialize in childhood cancers and study biology alongside his work as a doctor.

In the early 1990s, he decided to focus entirely on research with the aim of improving the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of pediatric cancers – so he joined Inserm. In 1992, he was involved in a world first when his team identified and characterized the genes responsible for Ewing sarcoma, a form of bone cancer that occurs in children. This was followed by a series of discoveries with significant advances in the understanding of rhabdoid tumors, which are rare and very aggressive cancers.

In 2018, which represents another key step in his career, he founded the SIREDO center (for Care, innovation & research in childhood, adolescent & young-adult oncology) at Institut Curie in Paris, which he has been leading ever since. An initiative that brought together within the same place healthcare and research teams dedicated to solid tumors affecting the under-25s. In this pioneering center, the aim is to collaborate more effectively and ensure that basic research can quickly benefit patients.

It is this desire to always go further to serve the health of young patients and their families, by continuing to work tirelessly to better understand and treat their diseases, which has earned Delattre the Inserm Grand Prize.

Valérie Gabelica, Research Prize

Valérie Gabelica © Inserm/François Guénet

Mass spectrometry, an analytical chemistry tool more than a century old, has been given a new lease of life thanks to work by Valérie Gabelica and her team.

A researcher at ARNA (unit 1212 Inserm/CNRS/Université de Bordeaux), this chemist has developed with her colleagues an innovative method that combines mass spectrometry and circularly polarized light to improve the study of the structure of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and how they interact with other molecules. It is understanding these interactions that will help research to discover new medicines, for example.

A long-term endeavor, which offers biomedical research valuable new tools and demonstrates the importance and excellence of the interdisciplinary research conducted at Inserm.

Valérie Crépel, Innovation Prize

Valérie Crépel © Inserm/François Guénet

Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common form of epilepsy in adults. In 2005, Valérie Crépel, Inserm research director at the Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology in Marseille, showed that kainate receptors of glutamate, a key neurotransmitter of the nervous system, were involved. Shortly afterwards, her colleague Christophe Mulle discovered that these receptors are a key element in the origin of this epilepsy in the hippocampus and a potential therapeutic target.

With the support of Inserm Transfert, Inserm’s subsidiary for tech transfer, the scientists filed a first patent in 2013. The project continued to develop, resulting in the creation of Corlieve Therapeutics in 2019. This start-up then became a subsidiary of Dutch biotech uniQure in 2021. The years of research in epilepsy and the efforts to create value have paid off in leading to the clinical trial of a treatment in patients.

Justine Bertrand-Michel, Research Support Prize

Justine Bertrand-Michel © Inserm/François Guénet

Trained chemist Justine Bertrand-Michel has dedicated her entire career to supporting researchers. Since 2021, she has masterfully led the MetaToul platform, the largest in France, with 6 teams, 40 engineers, 23 analysis systems and 4 robots.

This metabolomics platform analyzes metabolites, the compounds derived from the metabolism of all living things: glucose, amino acids, nucleotides, etc.

This work is her passion and requires a thorough understanding of the challenges faced in order to offer services, develop methods and train new staff – while keeping the budget balanced.

Priscille Rivière, Opecst-Science and Society Prize

Priscille Rivière © Inserm/François Guénet

Deputy director of the Inserm Scientific information and communication department, Priscille Rivière works to ensure the clear, transparent and rigorous dissemination of science to the general public.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it an increase in health misinformation.

The initiatives set up by Rivière with the communications team – from the Canal Détox series to the development of the Cellule Riposte network of researchers to answer media questions – now enable Inserm to play a role in the more global fight against fake news. And build a trust-based dialogue between scientists and citizens, to improve the health of all.