AERES report on the research unit

Transcription

1 Section des Unités de recherche AERES report on the research unit Center for Human Immunology From the Pasteur Institute May 2010

2 Section des Unités de recherche AERES report on the research unit Center for Human Immunology From the Pasteur Institute May 2010

3 Research Unit Name of the research unit: Center for Human Immunology Requested label: Pasteur platform N in the case of renewal Name of the director: Mr. Matthew ALBERT Members of the review committee Chairperson: Mr. Adrian HAYDAY, London, UK Other committee members Mr. Robert SCHREIBER, Saint Louis, USA Mr. Lewis LANIER, San Francisco, USA Mr. Ricardo GAZZINELLI, Belo Horizonte, Brazil Mr. Hans-Reiner RODEWALD, Ulm, Germany Mr. Georgio TRINCHERI, Frederick, USA Mr. David LEVY, New-York, USA Mr. Michel NUSSENZWEIG, New-York, USA Mr. Per BRANDTZAEG, Oslo, Norway Mr. Bruno LUCAS, Paris Ms. Danila VALMORI, Nantes Observers AERES scientific advisor Ms. Claude-Agnès REYNAUD University, School and Research Organization representatives Ms Christine TUFFEREAU and Armelle REGNAULT, INSERM Ms Evelyne MARCHE, CNRS 3

4 Report 1 Introduction Date and execution of the visit : This visit, which took place on the 30 th of November and the 1 rst of December 2009, represents the first attempt, for AERES and Pasteur Institute, to merge their own evaluation procedures in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of site visits. In this still provisional setting, each Pasteur group was evaluated independently, without consideration for their being embedded within a larger INSERM or CNRS structure. Accordingly, a general report commenting on the activity of the Immunology Department is provided, but not on the INSERM or CNRS unit entities. The following report concerns the activity of the Center for Human Immunology, a member platform of the Imagopole, created to support investigators engaged in human subject studies. Staff members N1: Number of researchers with teaching duties (Form 2.1 of the 0 application file) N2: Number of full time researchers from research organizations 0 (Form 2.3 of the application file) N3: Number of other researchers including postdoctoral fellows 0 (Form 2.2 and 2.4 of the application file) N4: Number of engineers, technicians and administrative staff with 1.5 a tenured position (Form 2.5 of the application file) N5: Number engineers, technicians and administrative staff 3 without a tenured position (Form 2.6 of the application file) N6: Number of Ph.D. students (Form 2.7 of the application file) 0 N7: Number of staff members with a HDR or a similar grade 0 2 Overall appreciation on the research unit The Pasteur Hospital was closed in 1999 after being operated inside the Institut Pasteur (IP) for almost 100 years. In 2005, when the Department of Immunology was evaluated, the committee wrote: Human tissue samples are required for many departmental research programmes and a well coordinated system is needed to facilitate the flow of these materials. This statement reflects the fact that translational medical research is best performed when clinical departments and basic science units are located side by side. To compensate for the lack of such geographical co-localization at IP, the Department of Immunology aims to make studies of human immunology easier, and CIH is the main result of these efforts. CIH was created in November 2007 and inaugurated in April 2008, under the capable leadership of two group leaders of the Immunology Department as director and co-director. The IP direction was supportive by allocating adequate space at the 4th level of the Metchnikoff building. It is evident that Chairman of the Department has been supportive of the initiative. The unit has, for unclear administrative reasons, been termed a platform and is associated with the IP technology mission Imagopole. In June 2008, CIH was recognized by the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) as a FOCIS 4

5 Centre of Excellence. The unit is open to all researchers at IP and to any interested clinician. However, it is very important that it should not be considered as merely a service unit to the scientific community, but rather a centre for hypothesis-testing and hypothesis-generating research on human materials. The intention is that CIH should offer a physical space where basic scientists and clinicians can undertake research together and where the two cultures can merge. The idea is that translational medical research should go not only from bench-to-bedside but also from bedside-to-bench. This is the best way medical science can serve humanity, and the younger generation of researchers know what Society is expecting in return for its investment in science. CIH has established a promising collaboration with the Clinical Investigation Centre at Cochin Hospital, but will now try to reach out to several other hospitals in the Paris region. To this end, an excellent website has been produced and, quite recently, a very useful brochure that will be widely distributed, informing the reader how he/she can advance a translational project through CIH. Moreover, as further promotion of these activities, CIH organizes the annual Day of Translational Research that attracts international practioners in translational research, who then review local efforts. This is an impressive initiative. In addition to providing regulatory support within a multidisciplinary environment, CIH aims to validate new clinical concepts including new therapeutic strategies by providing access both to clinical material and animal models, as well as defining new diagnostic and prognostic tools by identifying useful biomarkers. The activities are bottom-up investigator-driven and have in the short period of CIH s existence resulted in 12 collaborative projects, and five original articles have been published in 2009 in good medical journals, while several others are in preparation. This is very commendable. The CIH facilities are well organized with an excellent P2 laboratory. The necessary equipment is in place and more researchers are invited to work at the bench. Although the present space is satisfactory, an additional 18 m2 is requested to enable expansion of the activities. More critical than space, however, is the fact that there is only one permanent staff member who is responsible for essentially all the daily routines of the facilities. This keeps the manager busy, but she also expresses a desire to establish her own research project in the near future. While this would be a strong affirmative statement for the scientific environment of CIH, and should therefore be endorsed, it would provoke a manpower crisis, heightened by the fact that the temporary work contract of research engineer working in the center ends in the spring of In short, the whole working environment at CIH is at stake. Therefore, the committee recommends that the CIH be granted an additional permanent position as matter of urgency. Rather than focusing on establishing an MD/PhD program at Institut Pasteur, funds should be invested in covering the salaries for clinical collaborators while they are working at CIH. With the high-pressure situation in most hospitals, it is difficult for clinicians to obtain paid leaves of absence; rather, translational research is better promoted by empowering the CIH to buy regular research slots for clinical collaborators. This should prove a more immediately effective investment in bridging the scientific and clinical cultures: an MD/PhD school can and should then follow when the key short-to-medium term requirements for the CIH are secured Of utmost importance for the future of CIH is an increase of its permanent staff. If this does not happen, there is the obvious risk that this unit will no longer be viable. Thus, the Institut Pasteur Direction could make a bold affirmative gesture toward translational research by increased logistical support funding for CIH. From many perspectives, the Direction can be grateful that much of the hard work in creating a foundation for translational research has been invested by individual faculty; therefore, an investment now seems an appropriate reciprocation and a signal to others that the Direction will respond favourably to well considered, bottom-up endeavours in the future. 5