Imagine Institut des Maladies Genetiques Necker Enfants Malades Fondation
Shen-Ying Zhang:
go to page
Jean-Laurent Casanova:
go to page
Laurent Abel:
go to page
Adrian Gervais:
go to page
Located on the campus of the Necker-Enfants malades hospital, the Institut Imagine is a world leader in research, care and teaching on genetic diseases. Its unique architecture, designed by Jean Nouvel and Bernard Valéro, brings together 1,000 researchers, physicians, teacher-researchers, engineers and health care personnel in a single location to work with patients, with the ambition of accelerating research and diagnosis and therapeutic innovation to change the lives of families affected by genetic diseases. The Institut Imagine has been certified “Institut hospitalo universitaire” (IHU), in 2011 and 2019 and a “Institut Carnot”, in 2020. It is supported by six founding members, including AP-HP, Inserm and Université Paris Cité, as well as by private partners and patrons. Every day in France, 64 babies are born with a genetic disease. Nearly 8,000 genetic diseases affect more than 3 million people, of which nearly one in two is undiagnosed and more than 8 in 10 have no dedicated treatment. Faced with this public health emergency, the challenge is twofold: to diagnose and to cure.
The Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases is an international leader in human genetic and immunological bases of severe infections. The laboratory has pioneered investigations on genetic predisposition to mycobacterial, bacterial, viral and fungal infections. In particular, the lab discovered inborn errors impairing type I IFN immunity causing life-threatening viral diseases and the major role of autoantibodies to type I IFN in severe viral infections (COVID-19, influenza, WNV). The group plays a pivotal role in the dissection of genetic and immunological bases of severe flaviviral infections and leads the WP focused on virological, immunological & human genetic risk factors of severe infections.
Dr. Shen-Ying Zhang, M.D., Ph.D.
In the Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases (co-funded by Prof. Jean-Laurent Casanova and Dr. Laurent Abel), Dr. Zhang leads a team studying human genetic and immunological determinants of viral encephalitis. Her research focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of antiviral immunity in the central nervous system. She will have an important role in InFlaMe in investigating the role of human genetic deficiency and autoantibodies against type I interferons underlying severe flaviviral infections. She leads the WP2.
Prof. Jean-Laurent Casanova, M.D., Ph.D.
Prof. Casanova studies the genetic and immunological determinants of life-threatening infectious diseases. At IMAGINE in Paris, his team identifies and characterizes single-gene defects and their autoimmune phenocopies underlying specific severe infections.
Dr. Laurent Abel
Dr. Abel research is focused on human genetics of infectious diseases. He and his team are identifying key genes and variants linked to common infectious diseases while also developing statistical methods in human genetics to address methodological issues in data analysis. Prof. Casanova and Dr. Abel have a leading role in InFlaMe, specifically in WP2.
Adrian Gervais, PhD
Dr. Gervais holds a PhD in Immunology from the University Paris Cité, and he is currently a postdoctoral researcher in IMAGINE. His work is focused on investigating genetic and immunological determinants of severe viral infections. He plays a key role in InFlame research activities at IMAGINE.
