The Institute of Myology offers various types of equipment and services, mostly available to the Institute’s teams, but some can also be used by external academic or private research teams.
For example, the Institute has five shared expertise platforms comprising cutting-edge equipment based on specific imaging technologies (MyoImage), immortalised cell lines (MyoLine), gene therapy vectors (MyoVector), innovative molecular biology tools (MyoMolBio) and data expertise (MyoDATA).
The institute also offers services geared more towards clinical research. With its clinical trials centre, it can conduct clinical trials in children (I-Motion Paediatric) and adults (I-Motion Adult). It also develops and monitors databases, registers, observatories and cohort monitoring (Registries and Databases).
Within its Neuromuscular Investigation Center (NIC), it provides researchers with a Myobank-AFM biological resources centre for the collection, preparation, storage and distribution of human biological resources. Another of the institute’s assets is the MyoTools, which are devices and software developed by the institute to evaluate the muscular strength of different systems, movement or resistance to fatigue, and for which the institute offers training sessions on the tools. There is also an image database on muscle, the Muscle Atlas, which provides an exhaustive, qualified list of muscle biopsies from patients or animals who are ill, whether treated or not. It already contains more than 6,000 photos of muscle biopsies. It is the first database of its kind in the world.
Finally, on the teaching and training side, the Institute organises initial and continuing training courses. Two D.U.I., in Myology and the D.U.I. in Genetic Diseases: A Transdisciplinary Approach are taught throughout the academic year, and the Myology Summer School enables foreign students to take a course in Myology taught in English. Finally, the Neuromuscular Physiology and Evaluation Laboratory provides consultancy services to academics and industry, including the design and monitoring of studies (evaluation methods, outcomes, etc.).
