A starting grant awarded to Axel Innis by the French Foundation for Medical Research

Axel Innis, who holds a PhD in structural biology from the Cambridge University and currently works in the lab of the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry at Yale University, could join the IECB in 2012. The French Foundation for Medical Research (FRM) has just awarded him a 300 000 € starting grant to set up a team at the IECB.

In October 2011, Axel Innis was selected by the IECB’s International Scientific Advisory Board among 40 applicants for group leader positions. Trained in crystallography in Cambridge, he has been working since 2004 at Yale University, in the laboratory of Pr Thomas Steitz, who was awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 2009 for his work on the ribosome. The research project of Axel Innis also deals with this enormous molecular machinery. Composed of over 300 000 atoms, the ribosome processes genetic information to assemble the many proteins required for cell survival. The aim of Axel Innis is to investigate why, in some cases, the machine stops. Understanding this phenomenon would unravel new avenues for the development of new antibiotics, which would not encounter bacterial resistance issues.

The IECB could become of regular of the FRM call

Attracting talented young researchers is not an easy task. "We are not the only ones looking for young talents in chemistry and biology. We are competing with the best international research centers. To be successful, we need to come up very quickly with a competitive offer" explains Jean-Jacques Toulmé, director of the IECB. The institute, as a research team incubator, needs to recruit every year one or two new group leaders. Once a candidate has been selected, a starting grant is aggregated with the support of regional and national donors. In the case of Axel Innis, the Regional Council of Aquitaine, the Inserm and the Foundation for Medical Research (FRM) were solicited by the IECB. On February 11th, the FRM confirmed it would support the installation of the researcher through a grant of € 300,000, awarded in the frame of the programme “Amorçage Jeunes Equipes”. The IECB could become a regular of this call, which was  launched by the FRM in 2011 to attract or retain young researcher in France. Jean-Jacques Toumé welcomes the FRM announcement: "This is great news. Axel Innis is going to apply for a permanent position at the Inserm in 2012. For now, things are going well."