Research training

The activity of our Inserm Unit - U1259 is part of a highly dynamic field for teaching and research in microbiology and infectious diseases within the University of Tours in collaboration with the INRA Val de Loire centre.
 
Following the reflexion conducted for the educational contract 2018-2023 between the university of Tours and the Ministry of National Education, the educational team of the university in collaboration with INRA (National Research Institute on Agronomy) has proposed a thematic focus on Life Sciences with 6 Master of Science (MSc) programmes. Three of these programmes (“Molecular and Cellular Biology of Infection”, “Immunity and Biodrugs” et “Infectious Diseases and One Health”) will allow students to acquire a MSc with a broad spectrum of knowledges in the field of infectious diseases. The MSc “Molecular and Cellular Biology of Infection” was already part of the previous educational contract. The MSc “Infectious Diseases and One Health (IDOH)” is an Erasmus Mundus programme involving some of Europe's leading research-intensive universities in the field of infectious diseases and the "One Health" concept. The three founding partners are Université de Tours, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University of Edinburgh. The programme was launched in 2017 (http://www.infectious-diseases-one-health.eu).
 
Beyond the master program, the Infectiology PhD branch is one of the 4 components of the Doctoral School 549 “Health, Biological Sciences & Life Chemistry”, which gather all the Health & Biology teams of Tours and Orleans universities.

The Inserm Unit - U1259 was also a driving force for the creation of Fédération de Recherche en Infectiologie (FeRI, FED n° 4225) coordinated by Denys Brand (U1259) and Nathalie Winter (INRA Research Unit 1282). The main objective of the FéRI is to strengthen the continuum between fundamental research and therapeutic applications in human but also in animal health in agreement with the One Health concept. The FéRI includes 14 research units from Tours, Orléans, Poitiers, Angers and Limoges universities (300 researchers, teaching-researchers and other permanent staff).