September 06, 2019
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
DIM ELICIT (Empowering Life Sciences with Innovative Technologies), coordinated by the Institut Pasteur and the Pierre-Gilles-de-Gennes Institute, is one of 13 research fields of major interest (DIMs) with high potential identified by the Greater Paris region for the period 2017-2020.
The aim of DIM ELICIT is to support the use and development of innovative technologies for research in life sciences in the Greater Paris region. The program covers three scientific areas (microfluidics, biophotonics and waves, and image analysis and big data) and has four fields of application (single-cell and single-molecule biology, organ-on-a-chip, technologies for in vivo biology, and low-cost, high-performance technology).
It offers funding for innovative technological solutions with a major impact on society, especially in the field of biomedicine, that generate economic value in the medium term.
DIM ELICIT is launching a further call for proposals to fund equipment aimed at developing innovative technologies in life sciences.
The submission deadline for this latest call for proposals is October 15, 2019:
Proposals submitted in response to the first call in 2019 were initially assessed by external scientific experts. The proposals that received the best scores were then evaluated in terms of their economic added value. The DIM ELICIT Steering Committee met with a representative of the Greater Paris region in early July to discuss the proposals and select four projects for funding, two of which are led by Institut Pasteur scientists:
• Gael Moneron (leader), Jost Enninga, Philippe Bastin, David DiGregorio and Nathalie Aulner for the development of a STED (stimulated emission depletion) microscope for 4D real-time nanoscopy;
• Jean-Christophe Olivo-Marin (leader), Charles Baroud and Philippe Bousso for an advanced image analysis solution for spheroids in microfluidics (the SPHINX project).
The Greater Paris region is offering support for PhD training and training in research skills with its Paris Region PhD² program, launched in spring 2019. The region has pledged to co-fund 100 PhDs by 2022 with the aim of promoting digital skills and new technologies in companies and public bodies.
In 2019, 30 PhD grants (€100,000 + €5,000 for operational costs) were awarded. Three projects presented by DIM ELICIT were selected by the members of the Regional Scientific Council at its meeting on June 3, 2019.
They include the "Microscopy with Deep Learning" research project, presented by the Institut Pasteur's Imaging and Modeling Unit led by Christophe Zimmer and the socio-economic partner "Abbelight".