The Inception project
Our Goals
The INCEPTION aims to develop a core structure to mobilize data resources, numerical sciences, and fundamental experimental biology in various health issues.
The inception program uses Integrative Biology, Social Science, and Data Science to understand the Emergence of Diseases in Populations and Individuals, gathering different fields of expertise (biology, medicine, computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics, and social sciences).
The scientific project is divided into four axes. The first axis, “Methods for Integrative Biology”, comprises various mathematics, statistics, and computer science domains to be mobilized and developed. Their common objective is to enable the study of the emergence of diseases in populations (second axis) but also within individuals (third axis). These two scales of investigation are increasingly linked, for example, through the use of concepts and tools from evolutionary biology. Lastly, the fourth axis involves Social Sciences, in which Inception is influential in understanding and predicting the development of epidemics and building consistent health policies over the long term.
The INCEPTION program addresses societal challenges related to diseases emergence:
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Global surveillance and monitoring
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Multi-scale analyses, integrating the ecosystem
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Social sphere to define health policies
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New methodological approaches to make sense of biological big-data
Our Research Thematics
Data Science
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Biological Big Data
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Deep Learning
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Algorithmics of genomes and large scale sequence data
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Diagnostic tools based on image analysis
INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY
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Mathematical epidemiology
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Genomics of pathogens
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Precision medecin in infectious diseases and response to vaccination
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Precision medecine in genetic/epigenetics diseases
SOCIAL SCIENCES
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Medical anthropology investigation of emerging disea
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Innovative social science research to confront challenges of biomedical prevention in the age of "information society"
Our Structuring Program
To create synergy among the various thematic axes of INCEPTION, our action program is based on three pillars: establishing junior research groups (G5), funding innovative interdisciplinary collaborative projects, offering doctoral scholarships to train the scientists of tomorrow, and promoting exchanges through our workshop, training, and visiting scientists program.
Group leader position
G5
Creation of new junior research groups at Institut Pasteur in the following fields: - Sequence analysis - Machine learning - Data management and analysis - Systems biology - Phylodynamics - Metagenomics - Precision medicine The primary focus of the call is on computational and statistical analysis of biological “big data”, typically produced by New Generation Sequencing (NGS) and -omics technologies. Nevertheless, all modeling and computational approaches addressing biological questions closely related to the INCEPTION program areas are eligible. A highly attractive package matching the experience of the successful candidate will be provided, including salaries (principal investigator, permanent bioinformatician/biostatistician, post-doctoral fellowships), a substantial contribution to equipment and computing facilities and annual running costs.
Interdisciplinary research project call P2I
Interdisciplinary project on the emergence of pathologies, combining biology, medicine, mathematics, statistics, computer science, physics, social sciences ... The cross-cutting nature must be clearly demonstrated as well as its added value to answer the questions addressed in the project. Collaboration between two or more teams in complementary areas of expertise is recommended. One of the teams carrying the project must be affiliated with the Institut Pasteur. The other team(s) must be affiliated to one of the partner teams of INCEPTION Projects may also include the participation of additional, unaffiliated teams in one of the INCEPTION partners. However, the budget allocated by INCEPTION will not cover the expenses of such partners for the implementation of the project. The call is open to all Institut Pasteur teams and partner institutes.
PhD call
D2I
The selection of projects will be made in two stages and will be based on the following criteria : - Quality and interdisciplinary nature of the project - Scientific excellence of supervisors and host teams - Academic excellence of the student (good basic knowledge in biology, interest in life sciences and medical applications, solid training in the following fields : mathematics, statistics, computer science, physics, social sciences) The selected projects will fall within the main subjects of the INCEPTION program and will have to meet the following criteria: - Interdisciplinary project on the emergence of pathologies, associating biology, medicine, mathematics, statistics, computer science, physics, social sciences ... - Cross-cutting nature and added value to answer the questions addressed in the project clearly demonstrated - Co-supervision between two teams belonging to complementary fields of competence (at least one of the project teams must be affiliated with the Institut Pasteur; The other team(s) must be affiliated to one of the INCEPTION partners)
Workshop, training
& visiting scientist call
The INCEPTION Workshop, Training & Visiting Scientist call aims to strengthen existing networks, to build new networks of national and international cross cooperation and to encourage the exchange of ideas and concepts in all the areas relevant to the INCEPTION program. FUNDING, APPLICATION AND ELIGIBILITY Except in special cases, the program covers Workshop/Training expenses, including invited speakers’ housing and travel, up to a global amount of 2500€ maximum. Proposals with two or more co-organizers from different partner institutions will be favoured, but this is not required. Visiting Scientist application concerns researchers invited at Institut Pasteur for up to 6 months maximum. The applicant will deliver at least 1-2 seminars/courses per month, and INCEPTION will provide 1000€ per month to help the applicant for local fees. If your project is selected, the INCEPTION program and the “France 2030” must be presented as sponsor, and low prices for PhD students and researchers of the INCEPTION partners must be proposed. A report with the outcome (number of speakers and attendees, program of the event, total cost…) will be asked at the end of the event.
Our Education Program features
To implement Graduate Multidisciplinary Education Program at the interfaces of Life Sciences and provide training opportunities for the next generation of researchers
- Training of Biologists in data analysis sciences, and conversely, computer scientists and mathematicians in biology - Strengthen the Integrative Biology component of the Institut Pasteur’s Master's and PhD courses in partnership with PSL - Set up a mandatory Master 2 level course in Computer Science and Statistics, targeting all PhD and postdoctoral researchers - Launch a dedicated PhD program in partnership with the European Interdisciplinary graduate school Frontières du Vivant (FdV) and other major doctoral schools in Life sciences - Support PhD students to be trained for multidisciplinary research in biology through specifically allocated funding where students with a solid initial background in mathematics, statistics, and computer science will be highly selected - Provide access to Pasteur-CNAM Master specialization in Public Health - Set up Summer School - Develop new Online open education programs (MOOCs) - Encourage multidisciplinary links with medicine through a specific program - Promote entrepreneurship through the joint course entitled Development of Research and biomedical innovation, in coordination with AP-HP and Medicen