The (Inserm, ) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research.
History and organisation
Inserm was
created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health.
Inserm is the only
public research institution solely focused on
human health and
medical research
Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...
in France. It is a public institution with a scientific and technical vocation under the dual auspices of the
Ministry of Health and the
Ministry of Research. Similarly to the US
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
, Inserm conducts fundamental and translational research projects through 339 research units, run by around 13,000 scientists, including 5,100 permanent research staff members and 5,100 staff members co-affiliated with university hospitals and medicine faculties. Inserm's laboratories and research units are located all over France, mainly in the largest cities. Eighty percent of Inserm research units are embedded in research hospitals of French universities.
In 1997, Inserm founded
Orphanet, a
rare disease database.
Inserm's CEO is chosen by decree upon a proposal of the Ministers of Health and Research, advised by a review committee.
[France may be back, but the old ways persist for INSERM.]
The Lancet, Volume 391, Issue 10138, p 2390, retrieved 16 June 2018. The CEO since January 2019 is Gilles Bloch, a doctor and researcher specializing in medical imaging.
Ranking
According to the 2019
Scimago Institutions Ranking, Inserm is the second-best research institution in the health sector (behind the
NIH) and twenty-second best across all sectors.
Awards
Nobel prizes
Two Inserm research scientists have been awarded by the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In 1980, the French immunologist
Jean Dausset received the Nobel prize (along with
Baruj Benacerraf and
George Davis Snell), for his work on the discovery and characterisation of the
gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
s making the
major histocompatibility complex
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a large Locus (genetics), locus on vertebrate DNA containing a set of closely linked polymorphic genes that code for Cell (biology), cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system. The ...
. In 2008, the French virologist
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi was awarded, together with her former mentor
Luc Montagnier, for the identification of the
human immunodeficiency virus
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of th ...
.
Grand prix de l'Inserm
Each year, Inserm awards three researchers in three major distinct categories. The ''Grand prix de l'Inserm'' recognizes major advancements in biology for an active researcher of the institution, the ''Grand prix d'honneur'' recognizes a French public institution's researcher whose contributions have had a major impact in science, and the ''Prix étranger'' (Foreign Prize) awards a foreign researcher for their particular contributions to biomedical research. In addition the Inserm has internal awards for engineers and young researchers.
Awardees
Notes and references
External links
* (English)
{{Authority control
Medical and health organizations based in France
Scientific organizations based in France
Public health in France