Report from the visiting committee

Transcription

1 Section des Unités de recherche Report from the visiting committee Research unit : Bacterial infection, inflammation and digestive carcinogenesis University Nice Sophia Antipolis April 2008

2 Section des Unités de recherche Report from the visiting committee Research unit : Bacterial infection, inflammation and digestive carcinogenesis University Nice Sophia Antipolis april 2008

3 Report from the visiting committee The research unit : Name of the research unit : Bacterial infection, inflammation and digestive carcinogenesis. Requested label : UMR_S N in case of renewal : Head of the research unit : Mr Paul HOFMAN University or school : University Nice-Sophia Antipolis Other institutions and research organization: INSERM Date(s) of the visit : April 1 st

4 Members of the visiting committee Chairman of the commitee : Mr Gerardo Nardone Other committee members : Mr Peter Holzer Mrs Michele Kedinger Mr Mathieu Allez CNU, CoNRS, CSS INSERM, représentant INRA, INRIA, IRD..) representatives : Mrs Isabelle Van Seuningen, INSERM CSS representative No CNU representative was available on the day of the visit Observers AERES scientific representative: Mrs Ana Cumano University or school representative: Mr Alain Bernard, University Sophia Antipolis. Research organization representative (s) : Mrs Josiane Poggioli, INSERM Mr Jean Philippe Breittmayer, INSERM 3

5 Report from the visiting committee 1 Short presentation of the research unit Numbers of researchers with teaching duties : 7 including 5 PU-PH and 2 MCU-PH Number of full time researchers (DR, CR) : 2, both CR1 at INSERM Number of clinicians (PH) : 5 Number of engineers, technicians and administrative assistants : 1 Number of PhD students : 5 Number of postdoctoral fellows : 2 Numbers of HDR : 9 Number of students who have obtained their PhD during the past 4 years : 7 Average length of PhD since January 2004 : 4 years Number of lab members who have been granted a PEDR : 1 Number of «publishing» lab members : 9 out of 9 2 Preparation and execution of the visit The visit started by scientific presentations in the morning by the head of the unit, with a general introduction to the subject and the project proposed. This was followed by presentations by senior researchers on different projects including (1) Autophagy in the inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, (2) inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and hypoxia, (3) inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and non coding RNA. Finally, the head of the unit presented the project on digestive inflammation, early carcinomas and biopathology. In the afternoon the committee met with the representatives from the Hospital and University, visited the laboratories and met with the students and post-doctoral fellows. 3 Overall appreciation of the activity of the research unit, of its links with local, national and international partners The overall assessment of the Unit was good. The committee was impressed by the strength of the Biobank that collects samples from human tissue. The core facilities available for the analysis of the samples are mainstream facilities with histology, imaging, PCR and DNA and RNA arrays. The team leader and the members of the group are good as well as the quality of the science. The laboratory is a pathology laboratory with excellent facilities and technical capabilities. The team leader and the remaining members are well integrated in the local, national and international networks. The overall appreciation of the science was that the projects presented are very original projects. The most promising project was considered to be the different aspects of the role of neutrophils in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal cancer. Although some aspects of the physiology of neutrophils such as the role of TLR in the activation of neutrophils are not taken into consideration the project is compatible with the human resources involved in the execution of the experiments. Somewhat more complex is the project that aims at identifying signature mirna 4

6 or large non coding RNA to allow the prognosis in Crohn s Disease CD and Ulcerative Colites UC. The choice of cell lines to identify the mirna and large non-coding RNA was controversial and the alternative to use of fresh human tissue could be envisaged. The project to detect transformed cancer cells in the blood was considered very interesting and worth pursuing although proof of concept is, at the moment, largely missing still and the future usefulness of the system in diagnosis or prognosis in cancer not yet assessed. In general all projects rely on in vitro work (many of the experiment are done in cell lines) directly correlated with the analysis of patient samples. To establish the proof of principle in some of the projects other approaches will have to be envisaged on the medium. Models (animal or human in vitro) to test the hypothesis should be used in the future. 4 Specific appreciation team by team and/or project by project Of the quality of the management : The quality of the management is excellent. Of human resources : Human resources are sufficient in the present context but when new models are introduced in the research more personnel is needed. On the medium long term the recruitment of a basic scientist might be useful. Of the communication strategy : The communication strategy is good. 5 Recommendations and advice Strengths : The Biobank and the availability and processing of human pathology samples is the strongest aspect. The technology available that has been gathered in the last years by the team leader is impressive and state of the art. The science is of good quality and very original in the ideas proposed. Weaknesses : In the projects presented the proof of concept is still being tested, this is however understandable as the group is newly formed. However, the absence of model systems to test in a more physiological way the hypothesis has been noticed. The size of the group should increase in the future to accommodate that aspect of the work. Recommendations : The selection and the availability of detailed clinical history of the patients should be a major concern and the strong human pathology component of the laboratory should be continued. In the medium term alternative model systems should be designed or exported from other laboratories. The committee considered the laboratory among the top 20% in its field. 5

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