Participation in future investment projects

The BREED unit is involved in three Investissements d'Avenir projects:

Labex Revive

The Revive Consortium is a Labex project supported by the Institut Pasteur, structured around a specialized research program on stem cells, regenerative medicine and aging. Through its training mission, the Consortium has set up several programs for doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and continuing education in the field of stem cells.

http://www.revive.fr/en

L'Equipex MORPHOSCOPE2 - Multi-scale imaging and reconstruction of morphogenesis

Advance our understanding of biological processes and predict their behavior as a function of genetic or environmental variations.

High-resolution in vivo analysis of whole organisms is currently a challenge, as there are no visualization tools that bridge the gap between light and electron microscopy. By combining various tools, the MORPHOSCOPE2 project should make it possible to eliminate this methodological bottleneck, and thus gain a better understanding of how biological systems function.

This project will provide research teams with high-performance tools for visualizing and analyzing integrated systems at the level of cells or the whole organism, taking into account genetic, molecular and cellular parameters over time. The project will result in the creation of tools for the rapid analysis of molecules on various living organisms, a real innovation in the field of imaging and diagnostics. For UMR BDR, the study model is the mammalian pre-implantation embryo.

http://www.morphoscope.polytechnique.edu/

The CRB-Animal

CRB-Anim is a national biology and health infrastructure. It involves the networking of existing Biological Resource Centers for Domestic Animals (Veterinary Schools, Laboratories, CRBs, etc.) to form a single, coherent, nationwide infrastructure. CRB-Anim's ambition is to become the national and European reference in terms of biobanking for domestic animals, as well as the single point of contact for breeders and researchers alike.

The objectives of WP2 "Technological developments to improve cryopreservation of reproductive material", in which the BREED unit is involved, are :

• Better assess their reproductive potential after thawing and explore corresponding regeneration methods (fertilization, transplantation, reprogramming including induced stem cells).
• Evaluate the integrity of the gamete epigenome.

http://www.crb-anim.fr/Le-CRB-Anim

Involvement in collaborative networks

ATOL (Animal Trait Ontology for Livetock ; coord. PY Lebail, INRAE)

Characterizing the phenotype of each individual implies storage in a phenotypic database, the structuring and use of which has revealed the urgent need for a standardized language defining unambiguously the characteristics (in English, "traits") to which a wide variety of users (geneticists, physiologists, biochemists, producers, etc.) can refer.

The construction of this language uses ontologies, structured sets of terms and concepts that address a defined field of information organized to meet user needs.

Faced with this challenge, INRA's PHASE department, in collaboration with international partners, decided in 2009 to set up a reference ontology called ATOL (Animal Trait Ontology for Livestock) aimed at defining and organizing the phenotypic traits of livestock, taking into account societal concerns and major production types (milk, eggs, meat, fertility, feed).

ATOL Group objectives :

• A reference ontology for farm animal phenotyping shared by the international scientific and teaching community
• A language that can be used by computer programs (database management, semantic analysis, modeling, etc.).
• Have the most generic characters possible for farmed vertebrates
• Make the ontology as operational as possible and as close as possible to measurement techniques
• Structuring the base for animal production purposes

Role of BREED in ATOL : ontology of development-related production traits.

http://www.atol-ontology.com/rb/fr/1

GDR 3606 REPRO

Integrative and translational approach to animal and human reproduction

The main mission of the GDR REPRO is to promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge in all fields of investigation relating to the reproductive function in both animals and humans.

BREED researchers are members of the following working groups:

• Genetic and epigenetic control of reproduction
• Conceptus/maternal organism interactions
• Metabolic control of reproduction
• Somatic cell / germ cell interactions
• Environment and reproduction
• Reproductive technologies

BREED's DU is a member of the GDR's Scientific Advisory Board.

https://gdrepro.com/

The health of pregnant women and newborns

UMR BREED develops animal models linked to research programs supported by the PremUp Foundation, including Placentech, the study of the placenta; and PremImage, advanced imaging of gestation. These animal models help us to understand :

• The influence of maternal nutrition on fetal growth and the risk of prematurity
• Why and how maternal obesity leads to health complications for mother, fetus and child.

In France today, 1 in 5 pregnancies is pathological, i.e. endangering the health of the mother and/or child. This mainly concerns prematurity and growth retardation (IUGR). One out of every two birth defects is the result of these pathological pregnancies.

SF-DOHAD

SF-DOHaD is an NGO in the form of an association (French law of 1901), strictly independent, whose aim is to bring together people from all walks of life interested in Developmental Origins of Health and their implications. SF-DOHaD was created on January 24, 2012 on the initiative of its nine founding members, basic and clinical scientists including biologists, clinicians, and veterinarians, practicing as researchers and teachers, from different specialties: geneticists, gynecologists, epidemiologists, neonatologists, diabetologists... and with expertise in the field of DOHaD through different disciplines and approaches: nutrition, toxicology, epigenetics, nutrigenomics, physiology, molecular biology, bioinformatics. ..

Founding members: Pr Claudine Junien (President, UMR BDR), Dr Marie-Aline Charles (Secretary), Dr Latifa Abdennebi-Najar (Treasurer), Dr Anne Gabory (UMR BREED), Pr Umberto Simeoni, Dr Pascale Chavatte-Palmer (UMR BREED), Dr AbaloChango, Pr Anne Vambergue, Pr Laurent Storme.

The Société Francophone Origines Développementales de la Santé (SF-DOHaD) aims to promote research, teaching, education and communication in response to new scientific, medical and societal questions raised by new knowledge about the developmental, environmental and epigenetic origins of health and disease.

www.sf-dohad.fr/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZslNdUINbZc