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The gap between France and its competitors in genome research will widen even further unless research is stepped up, particularly in bioinformatics, according to a report published last week by the French Academy of Sciences.

In particular, it calls for the strengthening of the Génopôle biotechnology park at Evry near Paris, and wants a national network of similar initiatives to be built “as fast as possible” in cities such as Lille, Strasbourg, Marseille and Montpellier.

The report points out that, although France had a head start on genome research by publishing the first physical and genetic maps of the human genome in 1992 (see Nature 359, 794–801; 1992), it has failed to keep pace with American and British efforts.

Gros: ‘steps can be taken’ to help France catch up. Credit: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

“France cannot catch up in the realm of sequencing, but at the post-genome level there are steps that can be taken,” says François Gros, the permanent secretary of the academy and a former director of the Institut Pasteur, who coordinated the 230-page report.

This isn't the first report in recent years that has questioned France's approach to biotechnology research. A report commissioned last year by Claude Allègre, the minister for national education, research and technology, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the industry and finance minister, touched on similar issues (see Nature 392, 214; 1998). The findings lamented the fact that archaic state industrial policies and a dearth of start-up companies were holding France back in the international arenas of biotechnology and computing.

The new report, drawn up by 22 scientists, was also commissioned by Allègre. It calls for a rapid overhaul of genome research in France if the country is to continue to make significant advances. And it describes the French genomics industry as insufficient, calling for more support for start-up companies along the lines of Genset and Transgène.

Panel member Jean-Michel Claverie, director of the Information Génétique et Structurale unit at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, who was responsible for the report's section on bioinformatics, argues that this is one of France's greatest weaknesses in genomic research. While this science has been developing rapidly in the United States and the United Kingdom, France has been slow to update its more theoretical approach to computer sciences, he says.

The limiting factor to the development of bioinformatics is a lack of trained professionals, he adds. Heavy recruitment by large companies such as Glaxo and Merck have “just created a vacuum. There aren't enough professors to start programmes and teach courses.”

Other underdeveloped areas, the report concludes, are academic programmes geared towards genomics and collaboration between laboratories and clinicians. Research into plant and agricultural genomics and structural biology also needs strengthening.

With these tools at France's disposal, the report indicates, the country could become involved in some of the applications of post-genome research, in medicine, pharmacology and agriculture. If it does not, the report warns, the country may find itself technologically incapable of taking the next step in the genomic revolution.

Citing the example of bioinformatics, the report states: “Not having enough bioinformaticians in France or in Europe means that the sequences we produce at great cost will be analysed, interpreted and exploited by others, principally the United States”.

The document, entitled Development and Applications of Genomics, After the Genome, is the first of a series of biannual reports on the state of science and technology to be commissioned from the academy.