Report from the visiting committee

Transcription

1 Section des Unités de recherche Report from the visiting committee Research unit: Laboratoire de Chimie et Biochimie des Complexes Moléculaires (LCBCM) - UMR 7576 Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris February

2 Section des Unités de recherche Report from the visiting committee Research unit : Laboratoire de Chimie et Biochimie des Complexes Moléculaires (LCBCM) - UMR 7576 Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris February 2008

3 Members of the visiting committee Chairman of the commitee : Pr. Antonio TOGNI, Laboratorium für Anorganische Chemie ETH Zürich Other committee members Pr. Paul DYSON, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Pr. Yannick LANDAIS, Université Sciences et technologie Bordeaux 1 CNU, CoCNRS représentants : Pr. Philippe KALCK (membre du CNU), Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Ingénieurs en Arts Chimiques et Technologiques Toulouse Pr. André VIOUX (membre du comité national du CNRS), Université des Sciences et Technique du Languedoc Montpellier 2 Observers AERES scientific representative: Mr Régis REAU, Université de Rennes 1 University or school representative: A. FUCHS, Director of the ENSCP N. LACOME, Responsable du Directoire de la Recherche Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6 Research organization representative (s) : M-C. LASNE (DSA CNRS) 3

4 Report from the visiting committee The research unit : Name of the research unit : Laboratoire de Chimie et Biochimie des Complexes Moléculaires (LCBCM) Requested label : UMR N in case of renewal : 7576 Head of the research unit : Pr. G. JAOUEN University or school : Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris Other institutions and research organization: CNRS University of Paris 6 Date(s) of the visit : From January 28 th to 30 th of

5 Report from the visiting committee 1 Short presentation of the research unit Numbers of lab members including researchers with teaching duties, full time researchers, ingeneers, PhD, students, technicians and administrative assistants : 28 including 1 PR2, 1 PREX, 5 MCF, 2 DR2, 3 CR1, 5 ingeneers, 9 PhD and 2 technicians and administrative assistants Numbers of HDR and of HDR who are PhD students avisors : 8 / 4 Numbers of PhD students who have obtained their PhD and average lenght of a PhD during the past 4 years : 10 Numbers of PhD students currently present in the research unit ; Numbers of PhD students with fellowships : 9/9 Numbers of lab members who have been granted a PEDR : 1 Numbers of publishing lab members : 11 / 12 researchers 2 Preparation and execution of the visit The visit took place on January 28-30, Prior to the visit, a detailed program has been set up by the chairman of the committee in tight collaboration with the representative of the AERES and the directors of the to date existing five UMR s ( , 7084, 7573 and 7576) constituting the Institut de Chimie Moléculaire de Paris- Centre, Organique, Inorganique et Biologique (FR 2769). The program has been sent to the involved parties in the second half of December Little adjustments had to be made during the following weeks in order to accommodate specific needs. The directors of the single UMR s have provided the committee s members with detailed reports concerning the activities of their respective UMR's during the past four years. Such reports have been available, on paper and/or in electronic form, either just before the end of 2007 or by the beginning of January These reports, while containing the essential scientific information needed for the evaluation, have not been specifically conceived for the evaluation. The committee spent three days in Paris visiting the UMR's mentioned above. On the third day, the committee focused his attention on the two UMR's at the ENSCP. The visit started at 8h30 with a short presentation by the director of ENSCP followed by those of the two Directors of UMR. The research activities of both UMR's have then been presented in detail by the single team leaders in parallel sessions, interrupted by a common lunch break with a common poster session. The committee also met with representatives of the PhD students, "chargés de recherche", "maître de conférences", as well as technical and administrative personnel. 3 Overall appreciation of the activity of the research unit, of its links with local, national and international partners The research unit s activities are in the domain of bioorganometallic chemistry. Indeed, this unit created the field some years ago, coining the word bioorganometallic, which is now a thriving field of research. The unit has been hugely influential and remain at the forefront of the field. Bioorganometallic chemistry was defined by the unit leader as the study of biomolecules or biologically active molecules that contain at least one carbon directly bound to a metal or metalloid and as such the unit comprises a mixture of synthetic organometallic chemistry and biochemistry. Again, this was the first such unit in the world to integrate these two disciplines providing a unique environment in which to conduct research. 5

6 The unit has been instrumental in developing and promoting of the field of research, organizing the first International Symposium on Bioorganometallic Chemistry in 2002 in Paris, and now held every second year, and witnesses rapid growth every two years with around 200 participants at the most recent meeting. To indicate the growth of the discipline, in the new COST action Metals in Medicine (D39) there is now a working group dedicated to organometallic compounds. Indeed, bioorganometallic chemistry is a rare discipline in which Europe can claim to be leaders over the USA and this fact can be attributed to the influence of this group. In 2006 the first book on bioorganometallic chemistry was published, edited by the head of the unit. 4 Specific appreciation team by team and/or project by project The committee found that in this relatively small UMR the three single research teams and their respective activities are thighly interconnected, such that a team-by-team evaluation would be artificial. Thus, the following considerations apply to the UMR as a unit with a strong identity. The research was considered to be highly original and innovative. The unit has integrated the disciplines of organometallic chemistry and biochemistry in a coherent fashion. They have been particularly innovative within the field of medicinal inorganic chemistry by studying non-genomic targets rather than the traditional targets. This has led to the discovery of new putative drug compounds for types of cancer that are currently very difficult to cure with existing anticancer drugs. The unit also undertakes mechanistic studies, e.g. in vitro electrochemistry, which are only possible in a few laboratories throughout the world. The director of the unit, as mentioned above, not only established the field but has also invested considerable energy promoting and developing the field, which is now well established and practised worldwide. Some of the other team members are also well known due to an integrated work approach. The published works from the unit are distributed over the members, facilitated by the multidisciplinary approach undertaken. The quality of the publications is good to excellent, with papers in medicinal chemistry journals with good impact factors, and some important papers in general chemistry journals. The productivity of the unit was highly regarded. About two PhDs are produced each year. Typically the annual number of publications is slightly higher than the number of group members, which rates satisfying statistics (70 articles for 12 members, i.e. about 1.5 paper/members per year; a discrepancy from 48 to 1 publications is noted), and is a significant achievement year after year. A patent was recently obtained and negotiations are in progress with a company that may license the patent. The advancement of knowledge and impact of the research is perceived to be world class. While the unit is focussed on fundamental studies it is clear that they are very aware of the potential applications of their research and make considerable efforts to promote this aspect, with an ideal balance between fundamental and applied research. The unit participates in numerous national and international networks (COST European programs), often instigating these networks, and driving them forward. The visibility of the group at conferences, including many seminars in universities and several lectures at international meetings, is very good. 5 Appreciation of resources and of the life of the research unit Despite the exiguity of laboratories, the unit is well equipped with sufficient resources to conduct a full research programme. The members of the unit were motivated and appreciated the management/structure of the unit. 6

7 6 Recommendations and advice - Strong points : Innovative multidisciplinary research at the forefront of a field (founded by the unit) and growing rapidly in Europe, USA and elsewhere. The unit has been and continues to be innovative. Excellent new proposals have been included for future study. - What needs to be improved: A possible weakness of this team is the gap between the team leader's prominent positions and some of the younger colleagues, although this is perhaps not to be unexpected. Nevertheless, a publication strategy focusing more on general chemistry journals of highest impact could improve their visibility. - Recommendations: The achievements of the unit in the last four years are without doubt excellent. The unit is encouraged to remain innovative for the future. Notably, the work on synthetic organometallic enzymes is perceived as highly promising from a fundamental point of view (it could open up another field of research in bioorganometallic chemistry). The topic represents a departure from the unit s usual activities, but they have the know-how to succeed in what is clearly a challenging research programme. The unique training environment provided by this unit should be used to train a larger number of PhD students. 7

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