president Michel Cosnard

Marco Milán

Claude Mr

Prigent

Reynald Mr

Gillet

Marco Mr

Milán

Ms Agnès Bernet

Mr Olivier

Patrick Mr

Meraldi

Mr Guy Perrière

Guillaume Mr

Pinna

IGBMC Schultz

Ms Anne Spang

Mr Thomas

Mr Pascal

The Institute of Genetics and Development of Rennes (IGDR) is a CNRS research laboratory associated with the University of Rennes 1. It was created 5 years ago after the fusion of 2 research units CNRS/UR1 UMR6026 and UMR6061; it is currently the major research institute dedicated to basic research in Bretagne, and has become a major player in basic research in France in the field of Genetics, and Cell and Developmental Biology. In the last 5 years, the size of IGDR has increased through the external recruitment of new CNRS, Inserm and university researchers and team leaders. At the moment, the IGDR consists of 21 research teams organized in 2 different departments (Cell Biology and Development, and Biology and Expression of the Genome) and 2 different programs (Biology of Human Pathologies, and Biology and Interdisciplinarity). The IGDR hosts 212 people, of which 129 are permanent staff. The IGDR hosts 4 main facilities, including the platforms of "Microscopy Rennes Imaging Center", "DNA chips" platform, "H2P2 histopathology" and "CaniDNA CRB-Anim (PLlA1)". It also benefits of the multiple platforms of the Federative Structure of Research Biosit.

Management team

The research unit is managed by the director Ms Claude PRIGENT and the deputy director Mr Christian JAULIN. It will be managed in the new 5-year period (2017-2021) by Mr Reynald GILLET as director and Ms Marie-Dominique GALIBERT as deputy director.

HCERES nomenclature

Principal

Scientific domains

All teams are dedicated to fundamental research mainly in the domains of genetics, cell biology, developmental biology, biochemistry, structural biology, microscopy and Interdisciplinary domains (physics, chemistry, mathematics, informatic). Main themes are concerned with cell polarity, cell division, membrane traffic, signalisation, RNA (stability, translation, splicing), epigenetics, gene expression, cancer and genetic diseases. (Cell Biology and Development, and Biology and Expression of the Genome) and 2 different programs (Biology of Human Pathologies, and Biology and Interdisciplinarity. The unit is headed by Mr Claude PRIGENT as director and Mr Christian JAULIN as deputy director, and it will be headed in the new 5 year period (2017-21) by Mr Reynald GILLET as director and Ms Marie-Dominique GALIBERT as deputy director. All teams are dedicated to fundamental, research mainly in the domains of genetics, cell biology, developmental biology, and oncogenesis. As suggested by the 2011 AERES report, all IGDR teams are organized around a common scientific objective "the regulation, dynamics and robustness of cell division and identity" but using multiple scales, model organisms and scientific disciplines. As such, the IGDR has a clear objective to move towards excellence. The institute is located in 2 different campuses within the University of Rennes 1, but is intending to relocate all groups in the health campus to increase internal cohesion. In this regard, regular seminars and social activities are being implemented to increase the integration of all IGDR's staff, and a series of seminars called "Frontiers in Biology" are being organized to attract renowned speakers and increase the international visibility of the unit. The IGDR is successfully recruiting excellent young and promising teams, some already at a productive stage. Most of the new recruitments are external and have been awarded prestigious ATIP-AVENIR as well as FRM, AICR and ERC Starting grants. Following the 2011 AERES review, the IGDR has been able to recruit foreign PhD students and post-docs and, most importantly, a group leader from abroad, Pei-Yun Jenny Wu. A Scientific Advisory Board, composed of internationally recognized scientists from outside France, contributes to the IGDR's scientific management through regular visits and institute mentoring. A number of excellent facilities contribute to the scientific success of all IGDR teams, by providing technical help and expertise in microscopy, functional genomics and histopathology.

Unit workforce

Unit

Global assessment of the unit

The Institute of Genetics and Development of Rennes (IGDR) consists of a mixture of new, young teams -some promoted from within and many recruited outside, from very good institutes in France or in Europe -and already established groups covering a wide-range of topics related to cell-biology, genetics, development and oncology with a strong emphasis on inter-disciplinary approaches. The national recognition of several IGDR teams and of the existing platforms offering access to state-of-the-art advanced microscopy, functional genomics and histopathology is clearly remarkable. However, the scientific production of the unit, including young promising team leaders funded by prestigious ATIP grants, is uneven and in certain cases is clearly discrete. Most, but unfortunately not all, IGDR teams are organized around a common scientific objective "the regulation, dynamics and robustness of cell division and identity", and the unit is clearly interdisciplinary as the teams are using multiple scales, a large variety of model organisms and a smart combination of scientific disciplines. Many IGDR teams are strongly implicated in teaching activities on the Health and Sciences campuses of the University of Rennes, thus increasing the visibility of the unit among the students and contributing to the selection of the best candidates to carry out PhD programs. The implication in teaching is, in several IGDR teams, too heavy and negatively impacts on their scientific production. Finally, the IGDR is partially located in, and thus well connected to, the Pontchaillou hospital -providing unique opportunities for transfers from the bench to the bedside. The unit is located in 2 separate campuses within the University of Rennes 1 and is intending to be unified in the Health Campus in the next couple of years. The bi-site localization has disturbed the cohesion of the IGDR unit.

Strengths and opportunities in the context

The institute is organized around a common scientific goal and has been well guided by the current director in this regard. Some teams have high international visibility, and leading scientific initiatives have been taken with a strong impact at the national level. The attractiveness of the unit for promising young group leaders coming back from abroad or from very good institutes in France is attested by several Inserm-CNRS ATIP-AVENIR and ERC-granted groups.

The unit has set up active policies to financially support new teams that get extra money on the unit's budget and support from newly recruited or already existing research staff. This contributes to the attractiveness of the unit for young researchers.

A variety of model organisms are exploited in the institute (Drosophila, mice, dogs, nematodes…), with some competitive research axes, including new topics (membrane traffic & polarity, asymmetric cell division, synthetic biology, DNA replication, ubiquitination), and inter-disciplinary research (biophysics, image analysis, bioinformatics,...) with strong interface between biologists, physicists, clinicians and engineers.

The research unit benefits from state-of-the-art facilities (microscopy, functional genomics and histopathology) with very active implication of several PIs, researchers and engineers of the unit. A subsidized animal facility allows also the diversity of animal models to be developed.

The unit has developed links with the hospital, which provides the opportunity for medically relevant and translational research. The unit has also an important implication in teaching activity on the Health and Sciences campuses of University of Rennes and, in particular, in the training of PhD students.

Weaknesses and threats in the context

After the creation of IGDR 5 years ago, the appeal, at the international level, for non-French group leaders and young researchers is still limited.

The ratio of permanent vs non-permanent researchers (e.g. post-docs) is unbalanced and too high and the turnover at researcher level is also low. The size of some of the teams is suboptimal, which may hamper achieving the proposed goals and reach and maintain visibility at the international level. In several teams, the ratio between researchers with teaching duties and those without is too high.

Funding visibility of some of the teams is low. The teams should be encouraged to secure reasonable funding and raise more external funding at the national and international levels (HSFP, ERC,…). A more active funding policy will also make teams more competitive in recruiting post-docs.

The overall production of the unit is good, albeit rather heterogeneous, among the different teams, in the quality and in the number of publications. A few groups are below the standards. A system of mentoring young group leaders is not formally established, and the scientific evolution of some of these teams is in danger.

The participation of team leaders and researchers in international meetings as invited speakers or active organizers is limited and there is clearly space for improvement here as well.

Internal scientific cohesion is not generalized, and bi-site localization of the IGDR teams impairs scientific communication among the unit members.

Interdisciplinarity of the IGDR teams is not reflected by the number and types of doctoral schools from which PhD and master students are selected.

Recommendations

The transition between the current and future directors in heading the unit should be sped up in order to avoid any gap and uncertainty in the management of the research unit.

The IGDR should strengthen the focus on a scientific topic in the field of cell, developmental biology and genetics, as the reputation of the unit in these topics is getting reasonably high at the national, and even international, level. The institute should also increase its international visibility by organizing regular international meetings or workshops in the fields of cell biology, developmental biology and genetics.

A mentorship program to help group leaders, especially the youngest ones, should be established, thus increasing their scientific productivity and impact as well their success rates in getting national and international grants. This also concerns the researchers within teams who wish to assume team leadership either at the IGDR or in other units.

Resizing of the teams according to the scientific productivity and funding should be implemented, and the size and status of some very small teams developing technological improvements should be reinforced. Decision-making should be more transparent (resizing of labs, attribution of supporting personnel, finances…) and the communication between the directorship and the research and technical staff should be improved. The committee also encourages enhancing the internal cohesion of the institute by organizing annual scientific retreats and by increasing the occurrence of regular meetings.

The IGDR should be able to attract master and PhD students from different fields (e.g. Mathematics, Physics…) and not just those enrolled in the Doctoral School of Biology.

  Scientific delegate representing the HCERES: Mr Pierre COUBLE Representatives of supervising institutions and bodies: Mr Jean-Maurice DURA, CNRS Mr Claude LABIT, University of Rennes Head of Doctoral School: Ms Nathalie THERET, Doctoral School n° 92 « Vie, Agronomie et Santé » 1  Introduction History and geographical location of the unit

  Genomics, Bioinformatic, Systems biology SVE1_LS1 Molecular biology, Structural biology, Biochemistry

workforce Number on 30/06/2015 Number on 01/01/2017 N1: Permanent

	professors and similar positions	38 (18.70)	37 (18.20)
	N2: Permanent researchers from Institutions and similar positions	34 (33.60)	33 (32.60)
	N3: Other permanent staff (technicians and administrative personnel)	52 (45.90)	53 (46.90)
	N4: Other professors (Emeritus Professor, on-contract Professor, etc.)	3 (1.50)
	N5: Other researchers from Institutions (Emeritus Research Director, Postdoctoral students, visitors, etc.)	16
	N6: Other contractual staff (technicians and administrative personnel)	18 (13.70)
	N7: PhD students	29
	TOTAL N1 to N7	190 (158.40)
	Qualified research supervisors (HDR) or similar positions	51
	Unit record	From 01/01/2010
		to 30/06/2015
	2  Overall assessment of the unit
	Introduction
	The Institute of Genetics and Development of Rennes (IGDR) is composed of 190 people and 21 different
	research teams organized in 2 different departments

by the chairman of the expert committee". expert committee, the composition of which is specified below.

The assessments contained herein are the expression of an independent and collegial reviewing by the committee.


Jean-Pierre Mr

Renou

Jean-Pierre Mr

Ms Mathilde Causse

Ms Dawn Arnold

Jochem Mr

Evers

Mr Jordi

Inaki Mr

Hormaza

Mr Dominique

Mr Benoît

Loïc Mr

Agroparistech Rajjou

Steven Mr

Ball

The research unit named Institute of Horticulture and Seeds (IRHS) was created in Angers in january 2012, under the auspices of Inra, AGROCAMPUS OUEST and the University of Angers, from the merger of 4 pre-existing jointresearch units. This large research unit counts 235 members, including 175 permanent staff (48 professors and associate professors, 20 Inra researchers and 106 other permanent staff) and 44 non-permanent staff (including 24 PhD students). The IRHS is a member of the SFR QuasSaV (SFR: Federation of Plant Biology Laboratory), and of the competitiveness cluster "Végépolys", which unites companies, research laboratories and institutions of higher education in Loire Valley joining their forces in innovative projects to enhance their competitiveness.

The IRHS teams develop integrated research projects by coordinating the efforts and expertise in genetics, genomics, breeding, pathology, physiology, biochemistry, ecophysiology, modelling, bioinformatics and statistics. The main objects of study are roses and other ornamentals, pome-fruits and vegetables, plant pathogens (bacteria and fungi), and seeds. The research unit comprises 13 teams, two support teams handling administration and greenhouse facilities and three genetic resource centers.

During the period, the main facilities have changed substantially: new greenhouses and laboratories have been built and delivered providing the IRHS with 8900 m 2 of laboratory surface at a single location. The new complex of greenhouses and growth chambers (5700 m 2 ), comprising all the levels of confinement (up to S3) is now close to the new laboratories. Other Plant Science laboratories of the same Research Federation (QuaSaV) and the Vegepolys laboratory are also located in this new building, bringing together all the forces working in Plant Science at Angers. Most of the PhD students are registered at the Doctoral School ED 495 VENAM.

The global budget of the laboratory is around 2.7 million € per year (without permanent staff salaries), almost 75% provided by research contracts.

Management team

Since 2012, the IRHS has been directed by Mr Jean-Pierre RENOU as director and Ms Mathilde BRIARD, Mr François LAURENS and Mr Philippe SIMONEAU as deputy directors with the assistance of the group leaders within the direction team.

HCERES nomenclature

SVE2 SVE2_LS9 SVE1_LS2 et SVE1_LS3

Scientific domains

The laboratory develops integrated approaches by coordinating the efforts and expertise in genetics, genomics, breeding, pathology, physiology, biochemistry, ecophysiology, modelling, bioinformatics and statistics. The 13 scientific teams are organised around the three main objects of study (roses and other ornamentals, pome-fruits and vegetables and seeds). Ecophysiology and physiology approaches mainly concern rose architecture, fruit quality and seed germination and biology. Pathology and microbiology are focused on apple and seed pathogens. Since its creation in 2012, the institute has centered its research on horticultural crops (roses and other ornamentals, pome-fruits and carrots), and seeds of agricultural importance (notably legume seeds). To help in the discovery of the genes of interest as well as for reverse genetics purposes, some studies are also performed using the model plant species Arabidopsis and Medicago. The institute is also strongly involved in the study of plant pathogens (Xanthomonas spp, Alternaria spp and Venturia spp.), notably in relation with the studied plant systems. Hence, a main objective of the institute is to thoroughly characterize quality and health of the different plant systems investigated, which is achieved by coordinating efforts and expertise in genetics, genomics, breeding, pathology, physiology, biochemistry, ecophysiology, modelling, bioinformatics, phenotyping and statistics.

Unit workforce

The research programs particularly focus on plant architecture and flowering, fruit texture and conservation, analysis and management of genetic diversity, resistance sustainability, evolutionary ecology of pathogens, disease emergence, seed-associated microbial communities, seed conservation and tolerance to desiccation, seedling emergence and response to stress.

Global assessment of the unit

The institute has gathered complementary skills from four research units which allowed it to carry excellent research focused on a few ornamental and horticultural crops, seed biology and host-pathogen interactions. This is highlighted by an increasing number of publications including some in excellent journals, several patents and its participation in European projects and international consortium. Original and integrated approaches were developed thanks to numerous interactions among teams. The institute is strongly involved in education and student training. Furthermore the projects benefit from large collections of genetic resources and excellent infrastructure, notably in relation with the SFR QuaSaV. The research unit has strong links with the industry and also benefits from a very strong financial support by the region Pays de la Loire. The organization of the institute is efficient and particularly adapted to its size.

Nevertheless, the expert committee noticed heterogeneity among teams in both scientific production and level of external collaborations and project funding.

The project proposed for the next period is mainly in continuity of the present project with a few novelties. Two teams will arise from the merging of four small size teams, which should help them gain in efficiency. A new team will exploit the potential in bioinformatics with a specific research project, and assist the training and implementation of bioinformatics in the other teams. Finally, a new team will focus on epigenetics thanks to a regional grant for the recruitment of a new team in the forefront of science.

Strengths and opportunities in the context

The topics of the research unit are quite specific and discriminating in the fields of horticulture, seed biology and pathogen-host interactions. The unit has gained leadership positions in many of these research themes. The Research Unit gathers skills in several complementary disciplines, allowing the development of research projects on agronomical questions with strong impact. This is highlighted by the increase in the quality of the publications and production of the research unit, but also by the increase in collaborations among teams.

New research topics in bioinformatics, epigenetics and genomics will be developed and will be supported by the new high throughput technologies and the genome sequences available. The research projects also benefit from large and recognized genetic resources in Bacteria, Rosaceae and Apiaceae.

The large number of professors and associate professors ensures strong links with education and student training, thus increasing the attractiveness of the research unit.

Thanks to a strong support by the region Pays de la Loire to Plant Sciences, the institute benefits now from excellent infrastructures and equipment (new buildings, greenhouses, platforms equipment). The region also contributes to the funding of many research projects of different sizes, which benefit to every team notably in the frame of The RFI (Research, Education and Innovation) projects.

The research unit also maintains strong relationships with the horticulture sector and seed companies, in addition to the presence of the competitiveness cluster Végépolys, which is one of the driving forces of the "Plant Ecosystem" of the region.

Weaknesses and threats in the context

the quantity and quality of production has increased during the period, but the effort should continue to produce outstanding publications;

the number of invitations to international conferences is still limited and should be improved; -there is a relative heterogeneity among the teams regarding the scientific production and the international position;

for some research themes, and globally for the institution, the visibility needs to be increased; -globally, the number of ANR and European projects of the institute remains too low. The participation in large projects may permit opening of new PhD and postdoctoral positions and increase the institute visibility; -some heterogeneity in team size and technical support may limit their progress; 8 -the research institute should better benefit from the connection with university and AgroCampus Ouest to increase the number of trained PhD;

the size of administration team is insufficient given the size of the research unit and the complexity of its management.

Recommendations

The HCERES Panel recommends to the head of the institute to:

continue encouraging the collaborations between team;

pursue the effort to improve the quality of the teams' scientific production;

reduce the heterogeneity among the teams in term of size and technical support;

encourage researchers to participate to national and international networks to increase the institute visibility; this should help participating to and coordinating more ANR or EU projects;

require from the teams to develop a SWOT analysis and define their strategic plans addressing research risks;

explore new possibilities for partnerships with private companies to diversify the financial support.

  Representatives of supervising institutions and bodies:Ms Emmanuelle CHEVASSUS -LOZZA, Agrocampus-Ouest Mr Guy RICHARD, Inra EA Ms Dominique ROBY Inra SPE Mr Peter ROGOWSKY, Inra BAP Mr Jean-Paul SAINT-ANDRE, Université d'Angers Head of Doctoral School: Mr Bruno LAPIED, ED 495, VENAM « Végétal Environnement Nutrition Agroalimentaire Mer » 1  Introduction History and geographical location of the unit

74) Qualified research supervisors (HDR) or similar positions 33 Unit record From 01/01/2010 to 30/06/2015 2

	Unit workforce	Number on 30/06/2015	Number on 01/01/2017
	N1: Permanent professors and similar positions	48 (23.4)	48 (23,4)
	N2: Permanent researchers from Institutions and similar positions	17 (16)	20 (19)
	N3: Other permanent staff (technicians and administrative personnel)	104 (85.54)	106 (88.44)
	N4: Other professors (Emeritus Professor, on-contract Professor, etc.)	5 (2.05)
	N5: Other researchers from Institutions (Emeritus Research Director, Postdoctoral students, visitors, etc.)	8
	N6: Other contractual staff (technicians and administrative personnel)	17 (15.7)
	N7: PhD students	30 (25.05)
	TOTAL N1 to N7	229 (175.

 Overall assessment of the unit Introduction

specified below.

The assessments contained herein are the expression of an independent and collegial reviewing by the committee.