news 2018

PARIS, 17 december 2018 Researchers at CNRS, Université Côte d'Azur and Inserm have demonstrated a new mechanism related to the onset of migraine. In fact, they found how a mutation, causes dysfunction in a protein which inhibits neuronal electrical activity, induces migraines. These results, published in Neuron on December 17, 2018, open a new path for the development of anti-migraine medicines.

A study conducted by the University Hospital of Besançon and INRA shows the protective effect of high cheese consumption from a very young age. For the first time, a link has been established between cheese consumption and the probability of developing food or skin allergic diseases, regardless of the consumption of various other foods (vegetables or fruits, cereals, bread, meat, cake and yogurt) and living conditions in a farm environment (presence and diversity of farm animals).

A study conducted by the University Hospital of Besançon and INRA shows the protective effect of high cheese consumption from a very young age. For the first time, a link has been established between cheese consumption and the probability of developing food or skin allergic diseases, regardless of the consumption of various other foods (vegetables or fruits, cereals, bread, meat, cake and yogurt) and living conditions in a farm environment (presence and diversity of farm animals).

A diet based on MON 810 or NK603 transgenic maize does not affect the health or metabolism of rats, under the conditions of the GMO 90+1 project 1 . This unprecedented study performed by a research consortium led by Inra brought together a number of partners 2 , including Inserm. For six months, rats were fed a diet containing either GM maize (MON 810 or NK603) or non-GM maize, in varying concentrations.

Paris, 6 December 2018 Researchers from the CNRS, the University of Orléans, and the company Artimmune, in collaboration with Turkish clinicians from Atatürk University, have identified a key mechanism of lung inflammation induced by silica exposure, which leads to silicosis, an incurable disease. Their study in mice and patients, published (December 6th, 2018), shows that this inflammation can be prevented by extracellular DNA degradation, suggesting a new therapeutic target.

Paris, 15 November 2018 To protect neurons and limit the damage after a stroke, researchers from the CNRS, the University of Caen-Normandie, University Paris-Est Créteil, and the company OTR3 have pursued an innovative path: targeting the matrix that surrounds and supports brain cells. Their results, just published in the journal Theranostics , have confirmed this strategy on rats, and will lead to a clinical study between now and late 2019.

The goal of the PRIME-DE1 data exchange is to make primate brain imaging datasets acquired in laboratories available to the entire scientific community. PRIME-DE was created by an international consortium of 22 teams—including six from the CNRS, INSERM, and the CEA—all working with macaques. Because the brains of macaques are organized so similarly to our own, these animals are crucial to the study of human brain function and pathology.

Valérie Castellani, Thierry Chartier, and Daniel Le Berre are the recipients of the 2018 CNRS Innovation Medals. All three will be handed their medals during a ceremony held on October 10 in Paris. Since 2011, CNRS Innovation Medals have recognized scientists whose outstanding research has led to innovations having notable technological, economic, therapeutic, or social impacts.

To understand why some cancer cells resist radiotherapy, an international team of researchers has used crystallography to “photograph” the first moments of the molecular ballet that allows these cells to repair their DNA. The study involved teams from the CEA, CNRS, SOLEIL (French synchrotron facility), University of Paris-Sud, Gustave Roussy, Aix-Marseille University and University Paul Sabatier - Toulouse III 1 .

Over the last few years, scientists have discovered connections between gut microbiota imbalances and various diseases. Now, in a study using mice, biologists from the CNRS, INSERM, and Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University -together with colleagues from the Institut Pasteur de Lille and the NIH (USA)- have revealed a surprising relationship between a viral detection system, the composition of the gut microbiota, and the development of skin allergies.

What if social behavior affected the progression of even noncontagious diseases' This is precisely what has been demonstrated by French CNRS teams, 1 with support from the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), Paris-Sud University, the University of Montpellier, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), and colleagues from Spain and Australia.

Approximately 0.1%: that is the average genetic difference between two individuals. This small percentage is responsible for the variations of certain physical traits, such as eyes, hair, and height, but also for differences in our susceptibility to certain diseases and our capacity to absorb vitamins and phytomicronutrients (carotenoids, polyphenols, etc.), involved in the prevention of chronic disease.

A team of researchers at CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université and Université Paris 13 has demonstrated effective molecular labelling to unequivocally identify biomedical implants, even after a prolonged period inside the living being. These results were published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition on July 5, 2018.

A team of researchers from the CNRS and Université Nice Sophia Antipolis 1 has just shown that a small molecule called methiothepin can inhibit the chemotherapy resistance of certain tumors. These results will be on the cover of the July 1, 2018 issue of International Journal of Cancer . Cancerous tumors are also capable of “detoxing,” subsequently limiting the efficiency of chemotherapy.

INRA scientists, working with their colleagues from INSERM, have studied in mice the effects of chronic oral exposure to a low-dose pesticide cocktail. Their results have demonstrated metabolic disturbances in vivo that differ as a function of sex. Indeed, males exposed to the pesticides gained weight and became diabetic, while females were protected from these effects but displayed other disturbances.

How do young children aged between 6 and 18 months learn to eat different textures' Which textures do they accept as a function of their age? For the first time in France, INRA scientists working in collaboration with Blédina have studied these questions 1 . They showed that children accepted small quantities of most textures at an earlier age than their parents usually propose them at home.

Nextbiotix, a microbiome biotech company developing innovative Live Biotherapeutics using commensal bacteria as drugs to treat major inflammatory bowel diseases, today announced that it has completed a €7m Series A financing round to bring its lead candidate into the clinic.

A team of researchers from CNRS, INSERM and Aix-Marseille Université (AMU) at the Centre of immunology (Marseille-Luminy (CIML), together with the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) 1 , has proven that not all of the immune system's important mast cells are produced in bone marrow, as was previously thought.

How do ticks live solely on blood? A study presented in Current Biology (May 31, 2018) has elucidated the crucial role played by symbiotic bacteria that synthesize B vitamins. These nutrients are scarcely found in the blood ticks ingest but are essential to their life cycle. Thus ticks cannot survive to adulthood or reproduce without their bacterial symbionts.

Plants can detect the slightest angle of inclination. Yet the mechanism by which they sense gravity relies on microscopic grains. In theory, such a system should hardly allow for precise detection of inclination. Researchers from the CNRS, the French National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA), and Université Clermont Auvergne have now explained this curious paradox.