Paris

All change: the Pasteur Institute is attempting to capture a more entrepreneurial spirit. Credit: INSTITUT PASTEUR

Stung by criticism in a recent external review, the Pasteur Institute is implementing a range of reforms, including a biotechnology 'incubator unit', aimed at sparking a more entrepreneurial spirit among its scientists.

The incubator — Pasteur BioTop — is part of a reform programme instigated last year by director-general Philippe Kourilsky (see Nature 405, 990; 2000). It will eventually house 10 biotechnology start-ups, each with a two-year contract with the institute.

One of France's leading centres for biomedical research, the Pasteur Institute has an annual budget of nearly FFr1 billion (US$135 million), operating 110 research laboratories in central Paris with 2,500 staff. Income from patents and other industrial sources cover about 40% of its costs, but it faces budgetary pressure as a number of its most important patents are due to expire.

André Choulika, head of Cellectis, a genomics engineering business and one of three start-ups already housed in the incubator, says that the project has given a new lease of life to the institute.

Philip Avner, a genome researcher at the institute, agrees. “Now people who would never have had the opportunity to collaborate can have a go, and this has given a certain dynamic to the institute,” he says.

But not all researchers are thrilled by the introduction of private businesses to the institute. “The Pasteur Institute risks losing its soul and originality by following fashion,” said one, who declined to be identified.

Other elements of Kourilsky's reforms include changes in departmental structure and a major recruitment exercise. A recent external evaluation of the institute, led by Harold Varmus, former director of the US National Institutes of Health, was critical of the existing structure. It said that a lack of coherence in the research areas handled by the different departments was stifling emerging talent at the institute. The report also criticized shortcomings in the Pasteur's recruitment, training and evaluation policies.

A new structure will be implemented next year, with a larger number of more tightly focused departments. Cross-disciplinary programmes are also being developed, and around 50 new research groups will be created over the next 10 years, led by young researchers recruited after an international call for proposals.

As part of the plan to attract new blood to the institute, a scholarship scheme to recruit and fund postdocs for specific research projects is also being planned.

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