Bordeaux Region Aquitaine Initiative for Neuroscience Preparing the Future
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BRAIN Bordeaux Region Aquitaine Initiative for Neuroscience Preparing the future Higher education and research are the levers of new intelligent growth that is both sustainable and inclusive. This involves preparing a knowledge society that future generations will flourish in. The University of Bordeaux and its partners intend to respond to this challenge by developing a campus of excellence with international influence, joining research forces around high-level scientific pillars: • neuroscience, • environment, • medical imaging, • archaeology, • cardiology, • laser optics, • public health, • digital technologies. A university’s • materials of the future, strength partly These priorities reflect the research strengths of the Bordeaux site whose comes through excellence is clearly recognised in terms of the standards applicable to the its research, discipline and its high international profile. the creation of Certifications by the French national “Investments for the Future” scheme knowledge that can in 2011 have strengthened this dynamic of ambitious multidisciplinary then be passed on projects. Today, these centres of excellence backed by innovative training and disseminated. offer great prospects for development, French research and the socio- economic world. The quest for excellence is thus at the heart of the development policy of the Bordeaux site. Through this remarkable dynamic, the University of Bordeaux intends to provide solutions to the challenges of our environment and pave the way for the society of tomorrow. The Cluster BRAIN has played a decisive role in the emergence of collaborative transdisciplinary research projects between Bordeaux Neurocampus teams, in the creation of the Bordeaux School of Neuroscience and reinforcing a sense of belonging to a coherent community of international stature. Daniel Choquet, director of the Cluster BRAIN BRAIN Selected at the first stage of the “Investments for the Future” Scheme, BRAIN (Bordeaux Region Aquitaine Initiative for Neuroscience), directed by Daniel Choquet, strengthens neuroscience research in five transversal priority areas: > Pathophysiological mechanisms and consequences of dynamic synapse organization > Integrative physiology of synapses and neural networks > Molecular bases of transition to addiction > Transversal pathophysiology and innovative therapeutics for ageing, memory and cognition > Transversal pathophysiology and innovative therapeutics for motor, sleep and attention disorders BRAIN offers a boost to the Bordeaux Neurocampus teams in terms of: > Productivity and competitiveness by providing access to advanced technological infrastructures and facilities enabling the genesis of innovative, multidisciplinary and high-tech projects. > Attractiveness and visibility through the creation of the Bordeaux School of Neuroscience, the reinforcement of international training courses and grants offered for international doctorate and post-doctorate applicants. Daniel Choquet director of the Cluster BRAIN Gouvernance Key figures Governance > The steering committee is representing the 60 collaborative projects launched research laboratories of the Cluster BRAIN. It meets every two months to discuss growth -fold increase in the number of publications in high 3 strategy and to decide on general guidelines. impact journals (IF >10) > The executive committee is composed of three Co-funding of 42 M€ deputy directors in charge of technology transfer, training and clinical relationships alongside the 235 permanent researchers out of 650 neuroscientists Neurocampus project coordinator. It handles BRAIN management on a daily basis through Claire Herzog, industrial partnerships 20 the project manager. > The external scientific committee is composed of highly qualified international scientists. It meets every two years, convened by the director, to discuss the Cluster’s global policy for the forthcoming years and appraise the annual scientific program. Our community > Academics > International Bordeaux Neurocampus federates the Bordeaux Bordeaux Neurocampus teams currently develop neuroscience community. It is composed of a research collaborative initiatives with numerous international force of 650 persons within 6 institutes, a dozen of laboratories, some of which have taken on concrete technological facilities together with the Bordeaux form by becoming Associated International School of Neuroscience. Laboratories: • OptiNutriBrain, with Université Laval • France-Israel Laboratory of Neuroscience, with the > Industry Hebrew University of Jerusalem The research teams collaborate with some twenty • Cell Adhesion France-Singapore (CAFS), with the biotechnology, instrumentation and pharmaceutical National University of Singapore firms. The call for proposal on “applied research projects”, launched by BRAIN triggered the transfer Claire Herzog technology process by significantly financing two project manager of the Cluster BRAIN promising projects with a high economic impact. Director: Christophe Mulle > IMN Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives Director: Erwan Bezard > Neurocentre Magendie Director: Pier Vincenzo Piazza > INCIA Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine > IINS Director: Jean-René Cazalets Institut Interdisplinaire de Neurosciences Director: Daniel Choquet > SANPSY Sommeil, Attention et Neuropsychiatrie > NutriNeuro Director: Pierre Philip Laboratoire de Nutrition et Neurobiologie Intégrée Director: Sophie Layé BRAIN’s worldwide reach About 20 neuroscience meetings have been organized in Bordeaux gathering between 100 and 400 participants, two thirds of whom were from abroad, thus considerably developing the international outreach of Bordeaux Neurocampus. To increase even more our visibility , we initiated a new series of conferences entitled “International Bordeaux Neurocampus BRAIN conferences”. They bring together top level international scientists for three days and allow young researchers to discuss with acknowledged experts in a different field every year. The BRAIN cluster also participates in international meetings. For instance, it had a booth in 2014 in Milan for the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies meeting (FENS), every year at the SfN (Society for Neuroscience) together with the French Society for Neuroscience, etc… The increase in international collaborative team ventures can be gauged by the number of articles whose authors have links with the international teams. It doubled between 2011 and 2014. © Bordeaux Neurocampus, Yves Deris Yves Neurocampus, © Bordeaux Cutting-edge research Our scientific challenges > To integrate molecular, system, behavioral and clinical levels in order to understand how the brain functions in normal and pathological conditions > To advance the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders and discover new, innovative, therapeutic approaches > To view the dynamics of brain functions Our technology facilities Ten technology facilities were chosen to be supported by the Cluster BRAIN after an in-house audit on their utilization rates and the degree of technological excellence of their service offerings. Our aim is to offer cutting-edge equipment and services to Bordeaux Neurocampus teams at preferential rates. The facilities involved are animal (rodents and primates) and genotyping services; molecular and cellular biology facilities (biochemistry, cell biology, transcriptome analysis, microdissection); an imaging facility labelled at the European level (the Bordeaux Imaging Center) and clinical facilities (movement analysis and neuropsychopharmacology). © Bordeaux Imaging Center © Bordeaux Our projects > Collaborative: they systematically associate two teams from two different institutes on the site > Ambitious, innovative and of excellence: they are selected after evaluation by the executive committee to meet certain criteria and in line with a rigorous, efficient and transparent process > Multi-disciplinary: they involve all Cluster’s areas of initiative (research, training and knowledge transfer) Ellemarije Altena, researcher at the SANPSY laboratory, coordinator of the SOMNET clinical research project This project seeks to meet a major challenge in the field of public health (10% of the population is concerned), namely to discover how to distinguish between the various phenotypes of chronic insomnia in order to develop personalized and targeted therapies for these phenotypes of insomnia. SOMNET is based on an innovative approach using state-of-the-art neuroimaging tools (fMRls and EEG) and is aimed not only at improving the quality of nocturnal sleep but also to solve problems linked with daytime alertness. I was recruited by BRAIN’s Clinical Research Chair to set up my team in the SANPSY laboratory. The selection of my project at the call for clinical research projects by the BRAIN cluster has allowed me to carry out this collaborative project whilst becoming an integral part of © Ellemarije Altena © Ellemarije Bordeaux Neurocampus community. Laurent Groc, researcher at the Institut Interdisciplinaire de Neurosciences (IINS), coordinator of the “ExtraBrain” InterCluster research project Researchers will be studying the largely unexplored role of the extracellular space in the regulation of brain function, using innovative multidisciplinary approaches, including nanotechnology and HD imaging in a prion model of Parkinson’s disease. The project launched by the BRAIN cluster gave the impetus for support by IdEx Bordeaux within the framework of InterCluster projects.