Inserm and CNRS to Lead Large-Scale Program on Psychiatry Research

Psychiatric illnesses constitute a major public health problem. Danie Franco/ Unsplash On July 18, 2022, France's minister for Higher Education and Research Sylvie Retailleau announced an unprecedented psychiatry research effort in the form of 80 million euros allocated over five years to the precision-psychiatry project-program PROPSY, led by Inserm and CNRS as part of the Priority Research and Resources Programs (PEPRs). With this ambitious research program centered around four of the most incapacitating psychiatric disorders, the two institutes aim to develop precision psychiatry in order to revolutionize both their diagnosis and patient care. Led jointly by Inserm and CNRS, the project will involve partners whose competences are both renowned and complementary, such as Fondation FondaMental, CEA, Sorbonne Université, Université de Bordeaux, Université de Lille, Université de Paris, and Université Paris Est Créteil. Psychiatric illnesses constitute a major public health problem, affecting 20 % of French people on a daily basis - and very often their loved ones. Developing early in life, these illnesses often strike young adults and are sadly linked to a 10-to-20-year reduction in life expectancy. In response to the diagnoses - that are sometimes long in coming - the therapeutic options are often thin on the ground, with those that are available having incapacitating side effects.