Institut Q-LIFE

The ambition of Qlife is to structure a world-class center for quantitative biology at the interface between physics, chemistry, mathematics and computational sciences. Toward this goal, we set up different programs aimed to i) support interdisciplinary research, ii) accelerate technology transfer, iii) train futures leaders in the field and iv) support outreach and communication.

i) In early 2023, 4 interdisciplinary projects have been funded for 100 k€ each and another edition of the call has been launched at the end of 2023. A high-profile scientific meeting focusing on artificial intelligence across biological scales has been organized in San Francisco in the framework of our partnership with QBI, UCSF, followed by panel discussion organized with the French Consulate in San Francisco. Qlife graduate student seminar series has been launched and 5 speakers were invited to give a seminar.

ii) To promote transfer of fundamental research results into applications, 2 “pre-maturation” projects have been funded for 90k€ each to cover an engineer/post-doc salary for the development of its proof-of-concept phase. In addition, 2 patents were filled and 1 start-up was created.

iii) in 2023, our PhD fellowship program has enrolled 3 students, and 8 new students have been awarded a Qlife master scholarship. 2 one-week thematic courses (“Qlife winter schools”) have been organized. In addition, 4 interdisciplinary meetings gathering Qlife speakers and international renowned scientists have been organized and 7 scientific meetings have been sponsored.

iv)The MUSE-IC project led to the composition of 2 new musical pieces inspired by recent scientific discoveries and the preparation of a new concert in Paris in 2024. 2 new outreach videos addressed to the general public focusing on Qlife topics are being produced. The collaboration with EPSAA was relaunched for the 4^th edition and led to the production of 30 graphic story boards focusing on the work of Qlife research teams.