Institut Pasteur INCEPTION project selected as a "Institut Convergences" under the Investing in the Future program

In February 2016, the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research and the Investment Commission launched the "Instituts Convergences" call for proposals, a new initiative within the second Investing in the Future program.

The aim of this call for proposals was to establish a number of large-scale, highly visible, multidisciplinary scientific centers that are well equipped to tackle major issues at the intersection of societal and economic challenges and scientific concerns. Based on partnerships working at specific venues, these centers are intended to bring together a wide range of research skills in pursuit of a vision to produce new knowledge by drawing on expertise from different disciplines. This interdisciplinary research should give rise to the development of innovative teaching and training programs at Master's and PhD level within graduate school-type structures, for both initial and lifelong learning.

On July 7, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the French Minister for Education, Higher Education and Research, Thierry Mandon, Junior Minister for Higher Education and Research, and Louis Schweitzer, Commissioner for Investment, published the list of projects selected for funding under the "Instituts Convergences" call for proposals.

The five projects selected by an international panel out of a total of 36 submissions include the INCEPTION project for research into the emergence of pathologies through individuals and populations, led by the Institut Pasteur and jointly directed by Olivier Gascuel, Head of the C3BI, and Thomas Bourgeron, Head of the Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions Unit.

This project is closely related to the notion of biological big data. The rise of biological big data, including clinical, genomic, imaging and environmental data, implies a profound and irreversible change for Biology and Medicine, which is expected not only to impact basic research, but also the economic and social sphere. Modern Biology will consider the individual and his/her environment (social, infectious, microbiota) as an ecosystem, and diseases as Darwinian evolutionary processes. This new paradigm will allow the development of a predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory medicine, where the individual background and ecosystem are integrated. In this context, the INCEPTION project aims to synergize different fields of expertise (biology, medicine, computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics, and social sciences), to develop innovative solutions to the worldwide societal challenge of disease emergence in population and individuals.

To this end, the INCEPTION project proposes to address strategic questions related to:

• Global surveillance and monitoring of the emergence of diseases

• Multi-scale analyses of the emergence of diseases, integrating the ecosystem

• Consideration of the social sphere to define health policies

• New methodological approaches to make sense of biological big data