Institut de Biologie Structurale

The IBS is a mixed research unit (UMR 5075) jointly operated by two French national research agencies (the CEA and the CNRS) and the University Grenoble Alpes (UGA).

Director : Winfried WEISSENHORN, Professor University Grenoble Alpes

Deputy Directors : Cécile BREYTON ; CNRS Research Director - Martin BLACKLEDGE ; CEA Research Director

MISSION

The mission of the IBS is to develop research in integrated structural biology to address questions in basic and applied science.

The research themes at IBS are organized in three programs with multiple interactions between the different programs to foster collaboration within the IBS research groups :

The researchers, professors, engineers, technicians, students and administrative personnel pursue the same goals :

• Excellence in scientific production based on multidisciplinary approaches

• Development of new innovative methods for integrated structural biology

• Explore the interface of basic and applied science

• Training of young scientists

ORGANISATION

Scientific and institutional decisions are taken by the Comité de Direction (CDR), which includes the director, the deputy director, the administrative director and the group leaders of IBS, who meet 10 times per year. The Directors also work closely with the Conseil d’Unité (CU), which is composed of nominated and elected members representing all IBS staff.

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), composed of 6 scientists and the executive scientific advisors of CEA Sciences, meets every two years in order to advise the director on the scientific program of the IBS. The SAB is currently composed by :

• Prof. E. Yvonne Jones, Division of Structural Biology, University of Oxford
• Prof. Irmgard Sinning, Biochemistry Center, Heidelberg University
• Prof. Christian Griesinger, NMR-based Structural Biology, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
• Dr. John Briggs, Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried/Munich
• Prof. Gabriel Waksman, Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck and Research Department of Structural & Molecular Biology, University College London
• Prof. Felix Rey, Structural Virology, Pasteur Institute, Paris

HISTORY

The IBS was founded in 1992 by the CEA and the CNRS recognizing the importance and impact of structural biology to understand fundamental biological mechanisms. In 1999, the Université Joseph Fourier (now part of the Université Grenoble Alpes) joint the UMR (Unité Mixte de Recherche).

The past directors of the IBS were :

• Professor Jean-Pierre Ebel in 1992
• Professor Pierre Vignais from 1992 to 1994
• Professor Michel van der Rest from 1994 to 2001
• Professor Roland Douce from 2001 to 2004
• Professor Eva Pebay-Peyroula from 2004 to 2014