science

Inserm

Inserm is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Inserm rather than just read about it. In short: The Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm, French pronunciation: [insɛʁm]) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. History and organisation Inserm was created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health.

Key takeaways

Inserm belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Inserm to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Inserm from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm, French pronunciation: [insɛʁm]) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research.

History and organisation Inserm was created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health. Inserm is the only public research institution solely focused on human health and medical research in France. It is a public institution with a scientific and technical vocation under the dual auspices of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Research. Similarly to the US National Institutes of Health, Inserm conducts fundamental and translational research projects through 339 research units, run by around 13,000 scientists, including 5,100 permanent research staff members and 5,100 staff members co-affiliated with university hospitals and medicine faculties. Inserm's laboratories and research units are located all over France, mainly in the largest cities. Eighty percent of Inserm research units are embedded in research hospitals of French universities. In 1997, Inserm founded Orphanet, a rare disease database. Inserm's CEO is chosen by decree upon a proposal of the Ministers of Health and Research, advised by a review committee. The CEO since January 2019 is Gilles Bloch, a doctor and researcher specializing in medical imaging.

Ranking According to the 2019 Scimago Institutions Ranking, Inserm is the second-best research institution in the health sector (behind the NIH) and twenty-second best across all sectors.

Awards

Nobel prizes Two Inserm research scientists have been awarded by the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In 1980, the French immunologist Jean Dausset received the Nobel prize (along with Baruj Benacerraf and George Davis Snell), for his work on the discovery and characterisation of the genes making the major histocompatibility complex. In 2008, the French virologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi was awarded, together with her former mentor Luc Montagnier, for the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus.

Grand prix de l'Inserm Each year, Inserm awards three researchers in three major distinct categories. The Grand prix de l'Inserm recognizes major advancements in biology for an active researcher of the institution, the Grand prix d'honneur recognizes a French public institution's researcher whose contributions have had a major impact in science, and the Prix étranger (Foreign Prize) awards a foreign researcher for their particular contributions to biomedical research. In addition the Inserm has internal awards for engineers and young researchers.

Awardees

Notes and references

External links Official website (English)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Inserm

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Inserm claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Inserm before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Inserm ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Inserm

In research: Inserm appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Inserm in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Inserm is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1964 establishments in France, Inserm, Medical and health organisations based in France, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Inserm outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Inserm in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Inserm means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Inserm out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Inserm in simple terms?

The Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm, French pronunciation: [insɛʁm]) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. History and organisation Inserm was created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health.

Why does Inserm matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Inserm?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Inserm.