The
classical vaccination approach, which uses an attenuated or inactive form of a
pathogen to trigger a specific immune response, is unsuccessful against many
serious infectious diseases, including AIDS, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and
Chikungunya. The teams of the IDMIT department at the François Jacob Institute
of Biology are interested in the mechanisms of infection and pathogen entry,
the response of the infected organism, and the first steps in the immune
response. By improving these bodies of knowledge, the teams are able to
participate in the development and validation of novel vaccine strategies, in
addition to new prophylaxes and therapies.
The
laboratories of the François Jacob Institute of biology can be mobilized by the
government during a health crisis, particularly an epidemic. This was the case
during the mad cow disease crisis (a post mortem diagnostic test was developed
in Fontenay-aux-Roses to distinguish between healthy and diseased animals),
during the avian influenza epidemic, and even more recently during the
Chikungunya epidemics in Réunion and the Antilles.
At the IDMIT department, scientists are particularly
interested in the first steps of the immune response, which is crucial to
vaccination. This epidermal section example reveals the cell nuclei (in blue)
and dendritic cells (in pink). These cells intervene to introduce a foreign
agent to the immune system. © CEA
IDMIT,
a national infrastructure for the study of infectious diseases
IDMIT
is an “Infrastructure Nationale en Biologie et Santé” (National Infrastructure
in Biology and Health) dedicated to the modelling of infectious diseases and
innovative therapies. It is supported by the Investissements d’Avenir program
to focus on preclinical vaccine research programs and antimicrobial treatments
for human use. This infrastructure, unique within Europe, gathers all of the
leading French players in the field. The main objective of IDMIT is to provide
the national and international scientific communities with the equipment and
means to facilitate the discovery of markers showing that the vaccines and
treatments are safe and efficient, and to accelerate the transfer of innovation
from research to the patient.