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Month: April 2018

Cirrhosis: a predictor of mortality accurate prognosis

Posted on by Priscille Rivière

© Pierre-Emmanuel Rautou, AP-HP Inserm

A trial sponsored by AP-HP and conducted by teams of Beaujon Hospital, AP-HP, Inserm and Université Paris Diderot was set up to establish an indicator that reflects the severity of liver disease in patients with cirrhosis. Coordinated by Professor Pierre-Emmanuel Rautou and Dr. Audrey Payancé the Hepatology Service of Beaujon Hospital, AP-HP, this study establishes that measurement microvesicles rate from liver and circulating in the blood greatly improves prediction of 6-month mortality of patients with cirrhosis.

This indicator would better choose treatments offer in patients with cirrhosis.These results, published in the journal Hepatology , also opening a reflection on the value of strategies to reduce the rates of these microvesicles in the blood of patients with cirrhosis.

Cirrhosis is the advanced stage of liver disease. It is estimated that the disease affects 200 000 to 500 000 in France and is responsible for 170,000 deaths per year in Europe.

In 2012, a collaboration between a team Inserm Unit 970 (Mixed Research Unit 970 – Paris – Cardiovascular Research Center) and the Hepatology Service of Beaujon Hospital, AP-HP, showed that the microvesicles [1] in the blood of patients with cirrhosis contribute to vascular complications associated with this disease (Rautou, Gastroenterology 2012). A correlation between the original microvesicles hepatocyte rate in patients with cirrhosis and severity of liver disease was established.

From this observation, a prospective study funded by the National Agency for Research (ANR) was conducted among 242 patients with cirrhosis: 139 supported at the Beaujon Hospital, Clichy, AP-HP and 103 Barcelona, ​​Spain.

The trial established was whether the microvesicles in the blood could predict the evolution of the patients.

The team measured and analyzed the microvesicles rate (annexin V, platelets, leukocytes, endothelial and hepatocellular) in plasma of these patients.

The results demonstrate that the extent of the original microvesicles rate hepatocyte greatly improves the prediction of 6-month mortality of patients with cirrhosis.

These biomarkers could provide a reliable tool to refine the prognosis of patients with cirrhosis to better predict their evolution and precisely select the most appropriate treatment for each individual.

The results also suggest that strategies to lower the microvesicles in the blood of patients with severe cirrhosis may be beneficial for patients.

Following this work, the team obtained a Ministry of Health funding (Hospital Programs of Clinical Research, PHRC “promice”) of $ 400 000 for further research and allow progress in the implementation practice this new test.

[1] The microvesicles are extracellular vesicles. They are detectable in the plasma of healthy individuals as in that of the sick.

World Asthma Day

Posted on by Priscille Rivière

Tuesday May 1 is World Asthma Day – a day to educate and raise public awareness to improve the diagnosis and treatment of asthma.

Asthma is a respiratory disease that can be brought on by pollution, various allergies or genetic predisposition. It affects 9% of children, and those under the age of 15 account for over 65% of hospitalizations for the condition. Asthma remains under-diagnosed and insufficiently treated. Although often trivialized, it is responsible for 900 deaths per year in France.

During an attack, the walls of the airways swell, which causes them to narrow and make breathing difficult. These symptoms can also occur with physical effort or strong emotions such as anger or fear.

Recently, a team from Inserm and the CNRS has demonstrated that allergic asthma is triggered by the hyperactivity of a protein called interleukin 33. Being able to block this mechanism would therefore make it possible to develop new treatments.

Committed to improving the diagnosis and treatment of this chronic disease, Inserm researchers are available to answer your questions – particularly regarding its risk factors, development and existing treatments.

Discovery of a future therapy for hemoglobinopathies

Posted on by Priscille Rivière

©Inserm/Féo, Claude

With the genome editing CRISPR-case.9 technique, researchers at INSERM, the hospital Necker Children-AP-HP, and Université Paris Descartes in the Institute Imagine managed to reactivate a gene that may improve the appearance of red blood cells of patients with hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia. The teams Annarita Miccio, Inserm researcher, Prof. Marina Cavazzana AP-HP and Isabelle André-Schmutz, Inserm researcher show this new avenue of research and treatment of β -hémoglobinopathies in the journal Blood .

Millions of people are affected by severe forms of these diseases worldwide. They are characterized by an alteration in the expression of the gene encoding the β-globin: an essential component of hemoglobin . These changes can lead to a failure of expression of the β-globin gene, as in the case of β-thalassemia, or by an aggregation of hemoglobin into fibrils leading to the deformation of the red blood cells, in the case of sickle cell disease.

The laboratory Annarita Miccio, Inserm researcher, was particularly interested in the reactivation mechanisms of fetal hemoglobin . This hemoglobin is unusual act, instead of β-globin, other globin, γ-globin called, which is only expressed during fetal development.

Most patients suffering from β-hemoglobinopathies have a non-altered form of the gene encoding this protein. Its reactivation in patients with thalassemia and sickle cell would replace β-globin mutated γ-globin. This change would result in a significant improvement in the observed state of red blood cells for these diseases and thus associated symptoms (pain associated with vaso-occlusive crises in sickle-cell anemia or correction of anemia in both diseases).

The results show that certain genetic sequences responsible for blocking the expression of globine- γcan be modified, including a DNA sequence which inhibits the production of globin γ after fetal development. Its removal, using “genetic scissors” CRISPR / case.9, reactive synthesis globine- γ at levels sufficient to be considered in the future treatment protocol.

This study also improves the state of knowledge on the expression regulation mechanism to β globin γ during our development.

It also contributes to developing curative therapeutic protocols for these diseases with the majority of current treatments remain symptomatic and very heavy for patients.

In figures  :

Beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease affect alone nearly 100 million healthy carriers or sick people in the world. 60,000 new cases of β-thalassemia and sickle cell 300,000 are diagnosed annually worldwide.

Besides the high mortality observed, the less severe forms greatly affect the quality of life of these patients and their management represents a very significant cost to health systems.

In developing countries where these diseases have the highest incidence, β-hemoglobinopathies are a major public health issue.

Beta-thalassemia :

– 90 million people affected worldwide, about 288 000 patients

– 60,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

Vichinsky EP: Changing patterns of thalassemia worldwide. Ann NY Acad Sci 2005, “Gene Therapy in Patients with Transfusion-Dependent β-Thalassemia”

Alexis A. Thompson, et al. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1705342

Sickle:

– 43 million people in the world carrying the S allele moderately affected. Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, Collaborators (22 August 2015), The Lancet.

– 4.4 million homozygous patients worldwide, so very sick . GBD 2015 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence, Collaborators. (8 October 2016), The Lancet.

– newborns diagnosed sickle 300,000 worldwide each year.

– 114,000 deaths worldwide in 2015. GBD 2015 Mortality and Causes of Death, Collaborators. (October 8, 2016), The Lancet.

New gene therapy success in beta thalassemia: 22 patients treated in France, United States, Thailand and Australia

Posted on by Lea Roy

©AdobeStock

In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine published on April 19, the intermediate results of a clinical trial (HGB-205) led by Pr. Marina Cavazzana and her teams at the Necker-Enfants malades hospital AP-HP in collaboration with the Imagine Institute (AP-HP/Inserm/Paris Descartes University) as well as those of an international multicenter trial (HGB-204) conducted in the United States, Thailand and Australia, show that gene therapy is effective in improving the state of health or curing patients with beta thalassemia. These two clinical trials have used the same therapeutic vector “LentiGlobin”, developed at Harvard University in Boston and at the CEA in Fontenay-aux-Roses by Pr. Philippe Leboulch, in collaboration with the American company bluebird bio, for which he is the founder.

Pr. Marina Cavazzana, director of the biotherapy department at Necker-Enfants malades hospital AP-HP, laboratory co-director of the Inserm human lymphohematopoiesis laboratory at the Imagine Institute, and her team have treated patients who now produce a sufficient amount of therapeutic hemoglobin to stop the need for monthly blood transfusions.

Eight years after the first gene therapy in this disease, conducted by Pr. Cavazzana and Leboulch (Cavazzana et al. 2010), the lentiviral vector “LentiGlobin” of this therapy has been produced under the leadership of Pr. Leboulch of the Paris-Sud and Harvard universities and his colleagues, such as Dr. Emmanuel Payen, at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) where Pr. Leboulch is Senior Advisor for medical innovation of the CEA Fundamental Research Division and Honorary Scientific Director of the François Jacob research institute. These trials are promoted by the American company bluebird bio, which was founded by Pr. Leboulch in Boston. Cumulating 15 to 42 months of monitoring, the patients of the two trials have no adverse effect and have resumed their professional or academic activities.

A young woman testifies:

“I am nearly 24 years old and I benefited from an autograft 4 years ago. Now, thanks to that, I no longer have transfusions but above all I no longer have Desferal, which was my treatment in the form of a subcutaneous injection that I had to do every day to lower my ferritin. It was quite complicated, mentally more than anything because I was young and I did not feel like the others… Psychologically, I feel better now. I only take an oral treatment, which is an antibiotic, because they had removed the spleen damaged by iron deposits related to the transfusions, editor’s note] and a hormone treatment. I am monitored at Archet hospital […] as well as Necker hospital by Dr. Cavazzana and Dr. Semeraro. I go to Paris roughly every 6 months for my health to be assessed (a test) but everything is fine. I am delighted, I was lucky enough to benefit from this autograft and I wish the same for any sick person.“

Beta thalassemia is one of the most common monogenic genetic diseases. It is caused by more than 200 mutations of the beta-globin gene (HBB) and affects almost 288,000 people worldwide with 60,000 new cases per year. Passed on as an autosomal recessive trait, it disrupts the production of the hemoglobin beta chain, resulting in a more or less severe anemia. In its major form, beta-thalassemia requires monthly transfusions and a treatment against the harmful effect of iron deposits caused by these transfusions. These only have a palliative effect. The curative treatment offered to these patients is generally an allogeneic transplant of bone marrow cells, when their clinical condition is not too fragile and one of their siblings is a compatible donor, which is only possible in about 25% of cases. In addition, the success rates are uneven and patients remain vulnerable to infections in the months following the transplant and to the “graft versus host disease”.

In the phase 1-2 trials HGB-204 and HGB-205, started in 2013, the researchers took blood stem cells from patients. They modified them using the vector LentiGlobin BB305 to give them a healthy replacement gene, before transplanting them into patients previously conditioned by a myeloablative treatment.

This way, these therapeutic stem cells have produced a sufficient amount of red blood cells with healthy hemoglobin levels. According to patient genotypes, gene therapy has freed them from all transfusions (12 out of 13 patients with a non-beta0/beta0 genotype), or has reduced their volume of 73% and reduced the frequency of transfusions (3 of the 9 patients with a beta0/beta0 genotype or two copies of the IVS1-110 mutation).

“After the therapeutic proof of principle that we had obtained in a thalassemic patient and a sickle cell patient, these international multicenter trials confirm the consistency and magnitude of the therapeutic efficacy of our vector in many patients. The phase 3 clinical trials are now underway on several continents before applying to market this biological medicinal product” said Pr. Leboulch.

“Gene therapy has again shown its therapeutic potential, provided that the expertise from different fields is combined. As such, I thank all medical teams at the Necker Hospital and AP-HP for providing us with this indispensable expertise, key to the success of this treatment. Our effort must now be focused on extending this approach to a large number of patients” emphasized Pr. Cavazzana.

The life of these patients has already changed dramatically. In the framework of trials HGB-204 and HGB-205, they will continue to be monitored for 13 years.

The article “Gene Therapy in Patients with Transfusion-Dependent β-Thalassemia” is published on April 19 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Preserving Kidneys to Avoid Dialysis

Posted on by Priscille Rivière

How can we preserve renal function in people with a chronic kidney disease? Can dialysis be avoided or delayed? To answer these questions and many others, Inserm and Université Paris-Sud have set up the CKD-REIN1 cohort study, led by Bénédicte Stengel. Today it has produced its first results. According to the study, conducted with more than 3,000 patients, several priorities may improve the management of kidney disease. These priorities include improving blood pressure monitoring, providing more nutritional advice, and raising awareness among patients and health care professionals about the risk of medicine overdose.

This research has been published in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation

Our kidneys have several functions. The first is to remove toxic waste produced by the body. The second is to maintain the amount of water and minerals (sodium, potassium) required for the body to function properly. The third is to produce the hormones, enzymes, and vitamins needed to control blood pressure, and to produce red blood cells and vitamin D. When the kidneys function poorly, a disruption in these processes can lead to high blood pressure, anemia, heart problems, and brittle bones. In addition, medicines accumulate in the body, increasing the risk of overdose. These complications are what make the disease so serious.

Today in France, one out of 1,000 people (85,000 people in all) undergoes dialysis or transplant due to kidneys that no longer function properly. These are major treatments that are restrictive for patients and very costly for the health care system. For the first time in France, a cohort study called CKD-REIN (Chronic Kidney Disease – Renal Epidemiology and Information Network) is being conducted on a national scale to address these key issues for chronic kidney disease. More than 3,000 patients have been included and will be monitored for five years to identify the determining factors of chronic kidney disease progression, and to identify which clinical practices are the most effective at preserving kidney function and avoiding or delaying dialysis. The purpose of the study is to establish the scientific bases for optimal patient management, reinforcing prevention and reducing the costs of kidney failure for the health care system.

What are the first takeaways from the CKD-REIN study?

The subjects of the study are patients who have a kidney disease and are monitored by a nephrologist. In reality, the majority of these patients see their nephrologists just once a year. Their general practitioners are those who provide first-line medical care. These patients, at a moderate or advanced stage of the disease, already have numerous complications and take many medications, an average of eight per day. The study points to several priority actions that would improve the management of the disease: improving blood pressure monitoring; providing more professional nutritional advice; and raising awareness among doctors and patients about the risk of acute kidney failure, the ways it can be prevented, and the risk of medicine overdose.

For more information: https://ckdrein.inserm.fr/

Immunization Week 2018

Posted on by Priscille Rivière

The thirteenth annual World Immunization Week will take place from April 23 to 29, 2018. The campaign, created by the World Health Organization (WHO), undertakes to raise awareness about the stakes of vaccine protection.

This year, WHO is focusing on the importance of immunizing every child to “prevent the relevant diseases and protect their lives.”

The theme of the French version of this event, coordinated by the Ministry of Health and Santé Publique France, will be infant immunization. It will be a chance to continue teaching people about immunization in the context of the extension of vaccination requirements for children under age two, which entered into force in France on January 1, 2018.

The aim of the week is to increase understanding about what immunization is while reminding people that it is the best way to prevent certain illnesses.

Read the Inserm report that reviews the scientific knowledge relating to vaccination.

Read our other content about immunization:

Combining Administration Routes for Tailor-made Vaccination

Vaccines: Good News for Our Children!

What does science say about the eleven vaccines that will be mandatory for all children in France starting in 2018?

The event’s website: http://www.semaine-vaccination.fr/

Site on immunization written for the general public: http://www.vaccination-info-service.fr/

The Ministry’s vaccine calendar: http://solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/prevention-en-sante/preserver-sa-sante/vaccination/calendrier-vaccinal

For more information about Immunization Week: http://inpes.santepubliquefrance.fr/semaine-vaccination/index.asp

Achievements in Innovation: Inserm Sets Itself Apart Once Again Through its Momentum and Results

Posted on by Priscille Rivière


Adobe Stock

 

The respective classifications of the European Patent Office (EPO) and France’s National Industrial Property Institute (INPI), which have just published their annual rankings for 2017, have confirmed Inserm’s ability to innovate. Inserm placed first among patent applicants in the pharmaceutical sector for the second year in a row, yet again leading the rankings of European applicants in this sector, ahead of both industrial manufacturers and academic institutions. Furthermore, the Institute was in 30th place – having moved up five places – in the INPI’s “patents in all fields” ranking, confirming its research teams’ excellence and productivity in innovation.

For the second year in a row, Inserm is the leading European patent applicant in the pharmaceutical sector, with 107 patents filed, or three more patents than last year, staying ahead of the sector’s major industrial manufacturers. In the biomedical sector, Inserm has retained its place as the leading academic applicant, with 266 patents filed. In the biotechnology sector, Inserm is in fourth place among European patent applicants, with 92 applications. Lastly, Inserm has maintained its presence as one of the top 100 patent applicants worldwide, taking all structures and fields together. This significant number of patents filed shows how animated research is at Inserm, and how strongly and regularly the Institute contributes to innovation. These patents comply with all international quality standards thanks to a fruitful collaboration between Inserm’s research teams and Inserm Transfert’s value-creation specialists.

In the French National Industrial Property Institute’s (INPI) ranking of patent applicants in France, Inserm has moved up five places, ranking 30th among the main patent applicants in all fields.

“As a leading biomedical research Institute, our objective is to increase the effective and productive dialogue between academics and industry, since we know that today, cooperation between these two worlds is more important than ever. The excellent results in these two rankings is proof of our fully operational dynamic of success, which we will continue to build on in the months to come,” states Prof. Yves Lévy, Inserm’s CEO.

With a world-wide, diversified portfolio of 1,673 patent families, Inserm has a wealth of protected innovations, for which the creation of value is entrusted to Inserm Transfert, its private subsidiary under public service delegation. Inserm Transfert is in charge of transferring the knowledge derived from Inserm’s research laboratories to patients, industrial manufacturers, and the market. This excellent placement in the EPO ranking shows the innovation potential of Inserm’s researchers as well as the ability of Inserm and its subsidiary, Inserm Transfert, to protect advances in French research of excellence in a context of fierce international competition. The quality, strength, and solidity of the portfolio of patents on the global scene remain the keys for successful transfer, leading to the emergence of the treatments of tomorrow, the creation of value from Inserm’s academic research, and the consolidation of the French economic fabric of innovation.

Hepatitis C: a novel point-of-care assay

Posted on by Lea Roy

Darragh Duffy and Alba Libre, Immunobiology of Dendritic Cells Unit, Institut Pasteur / Inserm, using the Genedrive HCV assay. ©Institut Pasteur

One of the major challenges identified by the WHO in efforts to eradicate the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the diagnosis of chronic cases that are generally asymptomatic. Major progress is required for new diagnostic techniques that can be “decentralized”, in other words accessed by populations and countries with limited resources. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm, in collaboration with the company genedrive, have developed and validated a rapid, reliable, point-of-care HCV assay. This new screening assay means that patients can begin treatment for the disease as soon as they are diagnosed. The results have been published in the journal Gut on April 4th, 2018.

Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The virus can result in chronic infection, which may lead to severe complications such as cirrhosis and liver cancer many years later. Chronic infection with the hepatitis C virus affects approximately 1% of the global population (71 million people) and claims 400,000 lives every year when it develops into severe disease.

New direct-acting antivirals can successfully treat more than 95% of patients with chronic HCV infection if they are taken in time. In 2016, the WHO therefore published a plan to eliminate this major threat for public health by 2030. But the main challenge in meeting this ambitious target remains the diagnosis of asymptomatic patients, especially in low- or middle-income countries, where access to traditional screening assays is limited.

The current method for HCV diagnosis involves two stages. The first is to screen for specific HCV antibodies, but this does not reveal whether patients were infected in the past (and experienced spontaneous HCV clearance) or are still chronically infected. So the second stage requires a PCR1 assay to detect HCV RNA in the blood to confirm or rule out chronic infection.

There are rapid serological assays for HCV antibodies, but PCR screening requires dedicated infrastructure and qualified staff. In countries with limited resources, this type of assay is only available in centralized laboratories, which means that less than 1% of infected individuals in these regions actually know that they are infected. PCR screening may also involve several visits, and the time required between each result increases the risk of losing patients before the final diagnosis. To improve patient care from diagnosis to treatment, a screening assay for HCV RNA that can be “decentralized” and used in rural or low-income areas is urgently needed.

The team of scientists led by Darragh Duffy (Immunobiology of Dendritic Cells Unit, Institut Pasteur / Inserm) developed an assay in collaboration with the company genedrive that detects HCV RNA as reliably as existing assays but is faster and can be utilized at the point of care. PCR can be performed with the miniaturized device that enables the necessary succession of 40 reaction cycles to be carried out more quickly than in a conventional platform. The analysis can be performed in approximately an hour. This type of device is ultimately less costly than the current assays, which require significant laboratory infrastructure and maintenance.

The scientists began by clinically validating the assay on cohorts from the Institut Pasteur in France and the National Health Service in Nottingham, UK, then with data from Johannesburg-based Lancet Laboratories using samples from South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.

The study demonstrated that the assay had a specificity of 100% – in other words there were no false positives – and a sensitivity of 98.6%, thereby meeting WHO requirements for this type of assay.

The kit has obtained CE certification for distribution in Europe and will be available for sale in the Middle East, Africa, South-East Asia and India once local regulatory clearance is obtained.

This study was funded by the organizations listed above and by the EU FP7 project POC-HCV.

Genedrive HCV assay. ©Institut Pasteur

 

 

1 PCR: Polymerase chain reaction, an enzyme reaction used to select then amplify an RNA fragment in large quantities. PCR consists of a series of repeated cycles (20 to 40 on average), each involving three temperature steps.

Parkinson’s Disease: Acute Risk in Agricultural Areas

Posted on by Priscille Rivière

© Fotolia

A study published in the Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire (BEH – Weekly Epidemiology Report) for World Parkinson’s Day suggests that the risk of developing the disease is higher in people who live in farming districts.

A national study, published in the BEH devoted to the epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease in France, is researching the incidence of Parkinson’s disease in relation to the agricultural characteristics of French districts. Two Inserm researchers, Sofiane Kab and Alexis Elbaz (Inserm/Santé Publique France) are participating in the study.

By analyzing the French state health insurance’s SNIIRAM database, this national study confirms that Parkinson’s disease is associated with professional exposure to pesticides, a fact that has already been revealed by several studies. This has made it possible to observe that Parkinson’s disease occurs more frequently among those affiliated to the social security body for agricultural workers (Mutualité Sociale Agricole), particularly farmers, than among affiliates of other national health insurance plans.

On top of this, the results suggest that non-professional pesticide exposure related to environmental exposure, for example, could also increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. The number of cases of Parkinson’s disease that can be attributed to pesticide exposure is thought to surpass professional exposure.

These results do need to be confirmed by complementary studies.

Yet they tend to confirm that the incidence of Parkinson’s disease in the general population is higher in the most highly agricultural districts, especially viticultural districts.

View Inserm’s latest press releases on Parkinson’s disease :

Un outil pour prédire le déclin cognitif dans la maladie de Parkinson 10 ans après son apparition

Découverte d’un nouveau mécanisme d’action d’une protéine toxique dans la maladie de Parkinson

Les mouvements volontaires des yeux, nouvel indicateur du contrôle postural dans la maladie de Parkinson ?

Artificial Intelligence to serve health research: Inserm and Owkin join forces

Posted on by Lea Roy

Accelerate artificial intelligence research to benefit health: such is the shared objective underpinning the agreement signed by Inserm and the start-up Owkin, specialized in machine learning applied to biological and medical research. The tools developed by Owkin, combined with the mass of health data either produced or used by Inserm, will lead to the development of disruptive innovations unprecedented in the field of medical and clinical research.

At a time when Emmanuel Macron intends to position France as an artificial intelligence giant, Cédric Villani has just presented his report highlighting four priority fields, including Health: Inserm and OWKIN are fully committed to this ambition. The research agreement that binds together the two partners today will allow Inserm researchers to benefit from SOCRATES artificial intelligence software developed by Owkin.

The Owkin SOCRATES platform is aimed at academic or hospital researchers, as well as pharmaceutical industry researchers, to help them discover and develop new drugs. It uses machine learning technologies to analyze medical imaging libraries, genomic molecular data and clinical data sets in order to discover complex biomarker models associated with diseases or variable responses to treatments.

“Joining forces with Inserm will allow us to pool our efforts towards a shared objective. The partnership is a sign of our determination to drive research forward with a view to gaining a better understanding of diseases and making new discoveries. Our goal is to use artificial intelligence to analyze existing data and uncover new research avenues, broadening access to AI technologies for researchers, in the hope that this will result in new treatment strategies,”explains Gilles Wainrib, co-founder and Scientific Director at Owkin.

According to Yves Levy, Chairman and CEO of Inserm: “This partnership with Owkin is emblematic of how academic research and the very best French talent should join forces to generate knowledge of the highest quality. There is no doubt that AI will lead to significant benefits for research, medical practice and the national healthcare system as a whole, underpinned by a rigorous scientific approach and solid ethics. Our role as a public research institute is to do all we can to make sure this happens quickly and smoothly.”

Yves Lévy, the Chairman and CEO of Inserm, and Gilles Wainrib, the co-founder of the start-up Owkin, at the signing of the framework agreement between Inserm and Owkin (press conference of April 4, 2018)

 

More broadly, Inserm deploys a national strategy aimed at firmly establishing the leadership of French biomedical research in the field of artificial intelligence, via:

• The mobilization of the best teams currently involved in AI development (almost 300 research teams), data production and analysis or cohort follow-up.

• A key contribution to the use of data from the Health Data Hub announced by the French President on March 29 following the submission of the Villani report. This infrastructure will draw on the Système National des Données de Santé (SNDS – French National Health Data System), extended to clinical and biological research data.

• The setting-up of a new infrastructure for the collection and analysis of medical genomics data in the context of the French Plan for Genomic Medicine

• The reinforcement of its policy of public and private partnerships with national research organizations and industry in the fields of artificial intelligence: mathematics, algorithms, modeling, software

 

Inserm’s strengths in the field of AI:

– its scientific excellence, scientific integrity and innovation capacities, within a rigorous scientific environment

– its understanding of the biological and medical issues to be addressed

– its knowledge of the data associated with these issues

– its mastery of regulatory and ethical aspects

– its key role in the production and use of major data in the fields of biology and health

 

To find out more about artificial intelligence in the field of health:

Big data in health

The technical, human and ethical challenges to be addressed: a report that can be consulted on the Inserm website

https://www.inserm.fr/information-en-sante/dossiers-information/big-data-en-sante

The evolution of AI since the 1990s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UINCQ36eeY

Recherche à suivre: a fun series about research from the 1990s. Humankind is a champion among mammals, with some 10 billion neurons, but does intelligence simply come down to the number of neurons? This animated film compares a computer with a brain to help us understand how the human brain works. It retraces the history of the design of computers to lead us into the vast world of neurosciences.

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