Historic Partnership between the Weizmann Institute of Science and Institut Curie
25.3.2019 19:54:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
On March 22, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and Institut Curie in Paris, France, two major world-class research institutes, signed an historic partnership that will allow their teams to work closely together to improve knowledge in the field of life sciences, particularly in the areas of physics and chemistry, and most specifically - in the field of cancer research. This is a milestone in the history of these two institutes that have been working together for 15 years, particularly in the field of biophysics.
Collaborative research programs
This partnership will extend to many disciplines, including physics,
chemistry, cellular biology, epigenetics, genetics, immunology and
single cell approaches, imagery and data collection. The complementarity
of the research between the various groups at Institut Curie and at the
Weizmann Institute has been recognized in particular at the occasion of
joint scientific workshops held regularly alternatively in Paris and
Rehovot. Each research program will be organized around a pair of
researchers with a scientist from Institut Curie and a scientist from
the Weizmann Institute of Sciences, who will receive support on the
annual basis. This partnership also includes exchanges of scientists and
a Curie-Weizmann symposium organized every two years, with alternate
locations in Rehovot, Israel, and in Paris, which will be focused on one
of the subjects of research cooperation.
To finance the start of
this cooperation, Institut Curie and the Weizmann Institute of Sciences
will finance this research program for €200,000 each, and will organize
a joint fundraiser with philanthropists and corporate sponsors.
Projects with high hopes
There are numerous common interests
between the two Institutes. They can range from the description of
defects in cell nuclei to the mechanics of cell migration, or the
behavior of neural networks. A few examples of exciting ongoing projects
are highlighted below.
During his sabbatical visit at Institut
Curie in 2012, Professor Nir Gov (Weizmann Institute) participated in
several projects ranging from cell migration to collective cell
behaviors and neuron growth. For instance, he developed a theory in
collaboration with Raphael Voituriez (Sorbonne University), which
explains the observations of the team of Matthieu Piel (Institut Curie)
on the links between persistence and speed of migrating cells. This
theory gave rise to collaborative developments between these three teams
to predict important aspects of the migratory behavior of immune cells.
He
also collaborated with Pascal Silberzan at Institut Curie to understand
the behavior of cells packed at very high density on a surface. This
joint work combining experiments and theory, has highlighted the
importance of an intrinsic biological ageing of the cell population.
This project has helped understanding how cells can come to an arrest
while maintaining a capacity to respond to external perturbations such
as an injury.
Elisha Moses (Weizmann Institute) has a longstanding
interaction with the group of Professor Jean-Louis Viovy (Institut
Curie), now headed by Stéphanie Descroix, on the applications of
microfluidic devices to the study of living neuronal networks. He spent
three months in Paris, during which he and Dr. Catherine Villard of the
Descroix lab developed an optogenetic assay for guiding axonal growth.
This work has the potential for controlling growth of neurons and of
neuronal tumors within the brain. Drs. M. Vignes and R. Renault, two
talented researchers who were working on the project as students, have
now graduated and branched off into very interesting conceptual and
practical applications of this approach.
An important complementarity
The two institutions are both
highly complementary and display many mutually common attributes.
Institut
Curie is the premier research center in France conducting cancer
research, including all facets of carcinogenesis. Its research center
brings together 1,200 researchers working in 12 joint research units
organized in four areas based on natural scientific interactions and
robust medical potentiality. A strong advocate of international
cooperation , it welcomes more than 80 nationalities. Equipped with
advanced technology platforms, it is an important resource for
researchers around the world. Institut Curie is also a state-of-the-art
hospital complex that provides care and support for all cancer types and
welcomes more than 50,000 patients each year. It has developed
particularly innovative treatments directly from the work of its
research center. Institut Curie also trains students in science and
cancer research with the goal of increasing the knowledge about the
topic.
The Weizmann Institute of Science is among the ten premier
institutes of fundamental research in the world: 2,500 scientists work
on its campus in Rehovot in the complementary fields of mathematics and
computer science, physics, biology, chemistry, and biochemistry. The
Weizmann Institute of Science has a long history of research and
discoveries rooted in a mission of advancement of science for the
benefit of humanity; cancer research accounts for 40% of the total
budget of the Institute, which shapes and hosts a large part of the
leadership in Israel and contributes to the advancement and
understanding of scientific issues among all audiences.
Both
institutions have powerful means of technology transfer that leverage
the discoveries of their labs for the benefit of patients, whether
through the creation of medications, medical devices or other
technologies.
A shared vision of science
Science at the service of people
- this is the best way to describe the credo of the two institutes, both
of which were founded upon great personalities who have made an
important mark in the history of the world.
Chaim Weizmann, chemist
and author of many discoveries and publications, is the founder of the
Weizmann Institute, and was the first president of the State of Israel
between 1949 and 1952. Marie Curie, born Maria Sklodowska, founded the
Radium Institute in 1909. The first female professor and holder of a
chair position at the Sorbonne, the first woman to win two Nobel prizes
and be enshrined at the Pantheon in Paris on her own merit. In many
ways, these two scientists have had a remarkable journey.
But
beyond these prestigious founders, the two institutes share the same
vision of science, at the service of people and driven by strong values,
the same curiosity for discovery and knowledge at the service of human
health.
The
Weizmann Institute of Science and Institut Curie also share a common
belief that international collaborations in the field of institut-curie.org
science and the exchange of ideas across interdisciplinary boundaries
can accelerate progress to the benefit of humanity.
It is this
common ground which today enables this collaboration to take root and
which will tomorrow allow us to multiply efforts and as a result enjoy
major new discoveries.
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Contact information
Yohan Philippe
yohan.philippe@curie.fr
+33
(0)1 56 24 55 53
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