Pathogenomics in France Philippe Glaser

Administrative situation Creation of the ANR (Agence National pour la Recherche) - National Research Agency –Delay due to the need of a law –Headed by Gilles Bloch –Budget 350 M€ –Infectious diseases is one of the priority –Financial basis for future transnational program –BUT the administrative person in charged of this topic is not nominated

Research agenda-situation in France All major pathogenic species are studied in France, a weakness on streptococci (>80 teams) The different fields of the agenda from ecology and epidemiology to cell microbiology are covered Fundamental and applied research + development (innovation) Genomics platforms –Sequencing facility (CNS, Institut Pasteur, Marseille) –Transcriptome platforms (production and scanning) –Proteome analysis –Weakness: metabolome analysis Few screens of active molecules (inhibitors)

Research teams in the filed of Pathogenomics belong to various administrative structures: –INSERM –INRA –CNRS –Institut Pasteur –CEA –Universities –Hospitals –Industries  Need to improve networking and collaborations  Interaction with SMEs and Pharma

Many French teams are involved in European collaborations Bilateral collaboration Part of existing European networks (NoE, IP, STREP) Contribute to the submission of project which have not been retained

Collaboration - Genomics Analysis of the need of new genome sequences (environmental samples, hyper-virulent clones …) Information exchange and common genomic databases (also before submission to public sequence databases) Cooperation in genome annotation and re- annotation (species-genome) The human metagenome

Transcriptomics - proteomics - metabolomics Exchange of sets of oligonucleotides for major microorganisms. Improvement of the quality (there is a need). Chips production and exchange Other technical development in the field of transcriptomics and proteomics Data exchange and databases (difficult issue) Strengthening metabolomics Access to platform for the screening of diverse chemical compounds collections Production and exchange of transgenic mice Stimulate the production and exchange of other tools and methodological improvements

Expectations from this transnational call Improve the evaluation of the project Stimulatory effect on the quality of the projects Create opportunities for new collaborations Provide the opportunity to initiate new research projects Opportunities for junior groups to be involved in international collaborations How to define the link with genomics? Increase the financial investment of the French research agency in this field. How to synchronize with national calls? What should be the priority topics?