David Sassoon is the Director of UMR S 787 Myology Group, which consists of 4 research teams. Just 18 months after its creation, the unit was reviewed and is now renewed for 4 years. He tells us about the Myology Group.
How does the Myology Group operate?
As a condition for my coming to France, my project was to build a research structure built around elements that function independently. This may seem paradoxical, but this is the key ingredient for generating top level research—let me explain :
Each team leader works with his or her group on topics that they propose and for which I do not intervene nor do I take credit for their work (such as signing papers, etc.). In parallel, the teams, as chosen, are complementary in terms of research interests that relate to the entire research unit. At the end of the day, this very autonomy has led to collaborations between teams to address questions that would be difficult to examine as individually. Collaboration and autonomy are to key ingredients that define my research unit. The operation of the Myology Group is much closer to a research department found in a typical Anglo-Saxon university as compared to the classic French research unit. The attraction of this structure is that it allows us to attract high quality scientists who will likely leave the unit in the future to establish their own laboratories elsewhere. Of course, I would love to keep the best scientists here in the Myology Group, but it is likely the best are also ambitious and will need to establish their own large scale projects. This does give us that chance to consider new recruitment and new directions to remain as competitive as possible. The end result is that from a handful of research units today which are also of interest to the AFM, there will be 4, 8 and then 16 focused on subjects related to muscle research—this seems like a long-term formula for success.
Is the work of the Myology Group primarily basic research?
It is important to state that there is no strict division between basic and applied research. Good basic research always leads to improvements in applied research and clinical application. It is often stated that basic research is the motor of translational « bench to bedside » research. As an example, we have just brought Dr. Ana Ferreiro and her team (formerly with U582). Her team studies the mechanisms underlying specific neuromuscular diseases and in parallel, she is a practising clinician and participates in clinical research. In addition to our four teams, we are also hosting the team of Antonio Musaro from the University of Rome-La Sapienza. His work focuses on ALS disease in parallel with very basic research on muscle growth, hypertrophy and regeneration. As yet another example in the Marazzi-Sassoon team, we have several collaborations with pharmaceutical companies in the USA and elsewhere in Europe on how new drugs may target endogenous stem cells. We remain dedicated to basic research but it is impossible for this type of work to remain far from the clinic.
Can the work of the Myology Group lead to pre-clinical studies?
Of course—we have a grant under review which involves several clinical groups as well as a clinical trial in Italy. It has been recently shown that Nitric Oxide delivery with drugs that are already available at your local pharmacy can have pronounced beneficial effects upon mdx (Duchenne) mice. The mechanism of action is unclear, so we need to extend our understanding of how the drug works in parallel to a clinical trial and in anticipation of a second generation clinical trial. If our work leads to new agents to be tested, it could be done on site at the Myology Institute or elsewhere—the important issue is we make progress in this direction: isn’t this is the goal of the patients and their families too?
March 2009
