Three new members have been isolated and added to the Pandoravirus family by researchers at the Structural and Genomic Information Laboratory (CNRS/Aix‐Marseille Université), working with partners at the Large Scale Biology Laboratory (CEA/Inserm/Université Grenoble‐Alpes) and at CEA-Genoscope. This strange family of viruses, with their giant genomes and many genes with no known equivalents, surprised the scientists when they were discovered a few years ago. In the 11 June 2018...
A Franco-American team involving researchers from Inserm, Université Paris-Descartes and doctors grouped in the Institute Imagine the hospital Necker-Enfants Malades AP-HP and Rockefeller University New York discovered a genetic cause of Whipple's disease, chronic intestinal pathology. By studying families with 4 members developed symptoms, the team found that the mutation of the gene causes IRF4 an impaired immune response to the bacteria Tropheryma whippleiAt the origin of the disease....
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...
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...
A team of researchers from Inserm ("Toxicology, pharmacology and cell signaling" JRU 1124) and the universities of Paris Descartes and Paris Diderot have recently discovered that flunarizine – a drug already used to treat migraine and epilepsy – enables the repair of a molecular defect related to spinal muscular atrophy, a severe and incurable disease. This discovery is the culmination of research efforts ongoing since 1995, when the Inserm...
A team of researchers led by Maria-Christina Zennaro, Inserm research Director at the Paris Cardiovascular Research Center (Inserm/ Paris-Descartes University), in collaboration with German colleagues , has identified a new gene implicated in hypertension. This study has been published in Nature Genetics.These new findings highlight the role of genetic predisposition in the onset of common diseases and the importance of the French Plan for Genomic Medicine 2025. A...
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...
Scientists have found that certain compounds, produced by microbes in the guts of mice, could be used to show which animals are at greater risk of becoming obese, or developing health conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
In a study published today in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine1, the team led by Prof. Nicolas Lévy identifies the mechanism associated with the accumulation of progerin, a toxic protein produced in the course of ageing, and demonstrates the therapeutic potential of a new drug – MG132 – to treat progeria, a rare syndrome involving premature and accelerated ageing. Nicolas Lévy and his team have demonstrated the ability of...
Cholesterol plays a central role in many living processes. In a new study, a team led by Catherine-Laure Tomasetto, Inserm research director at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (Inserm/CNRS/Université de Strasbourg) reveals the role played by the STARD3 protein in the distribution of cholesterol within cells. A little like molecular velcro, this protein has the capacity to form membrane contacts between two cell organelles, enabling...
An international collaborative study coordinated by Frédéric Laumonnier (Unit 930 “Imaging and Brain” Inserm/University of Tours) and Yann Hérault of the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (Inserm/ CNRS/ University of Strasbourg) provides new and original findings on the pathophysiological role of the contact areas between neurons in certain brain disorders. The study reveals that mutation of one of the genes involved in intellectual disability and autism...
