CBI Toulouse

The Center for Integrative Biology in Toulouse (CBI Toulouse) regroups five research departments (LMGM, LBME, LBCMCP, CBD, CRCA) that form a strong pole in post-genomic biology, with a total of about 400 researchers. It brings together high-level research groups involved in the understanding of fundamental biological processes including genome dynamics and expression, morphogenesis and development, cognition and behaviour. Importantly, these questions are tackled at different scales, from isolated molecules to organisms in society.

The objective of the CBI is to foster synergies between these teams through the integration of multi-scale information in order to design new biological models and meet the immense scientific and technological challenges in post-genomic biology. Thanks to its structuring nature, its critical mass and the complementary skills of its staff, the CBI is a major site of multi-scale integrative biology. The CBI develops its scientific project along four federative axes: "Genome Dynamics", "Cell Dynamics and Development", "Molecular, Cellular and Behavioral Neurosciences" and "Computational and Systems Biology".

From 2018 on, all five departments will be regrouped in a unique location thanks to the construction of a new building on the campus of the University of Toulouse-Paul Sabatier.

Research axis

• Genome Dynamics
• Cell Dynamics and Development
• Molecular, Cellular and Behavioral Neurosciences
• Computational and Systems Biology

Environment of the CBI

Toulouse is a 120,000-student town comprising three universities and several major engineering schools, which makes it the second university town in France. The University of Toulouse, which now regroups these universities and schools in a federal entity, was granted the IDEX (Initiative d'Excellence) label by the French government, which reflects the prominent place of Toulouse in academic research and education.

The campus of the Science University of Toulouse (Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse III), to which the CBI belongs, hosts laboratories in Biology, Ecology, Physics, Mathematics, Nanotechnology, Informatics and Chemistry, Astronomy, which provides opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions. Paul Sabatier University also includes two University hospitals. In total, the biology research centers employ ~1600 faculty members, technicians, and administrative officers.

The BioResearch Federation Of Toulouse, which brings together the CBI and the Institute for Pharmacology and Structural Biology (IPBS), hosts roughly 40% of the biology research personnel in Toulouse. The other main poles in biology are the recently opened Cancer Center (Oncopole), the laboratory of research on stem cells (Stromalab), the Institute for Cardiavascular and Metabolic Diseases (I2MC), the Toulouse-Purpan Research Center on Physiopathology (CPTP), the Agrobioscience and Biodiversity Federation (FRAIB) and the Institute for Brain Science.