Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM)
101 Rue de Tolbiac
75654 Paris

France

 www.inserm.fr

Teamleader

Dr. Catherine Chiron Director of Research at INSERM U663  Phone: +33 1 42 19 27 00  Fax: +33 1 42 19 28 74  Contact

Project Staff

Mrs. Stephanie Chhun PhD student Pharmacology  Contact

Dr. Philippe Hubert Pr of pediatrics, IP of the clinical trial in Paris (Necker hospital)  Contact

Dr. Stéphane Auvin Service de Neurologie Pédiatrique et des Maladies Métaboliques   Contact

Institute Presentation

INSERM/University U663 is one of the rare research groups in the world devoted to the "Paediatric epilepsies and brain plasticity". Its major interest is to develop new strategies for AED trials in specific populations (infants, neonates) and specific epilepsy syndromes (epileptic encephalopathies) which are drug resistant in children. The group has great experience of national and international multicenter pharmacological trials and was the first to design, coordinate and perform controlled trials in rare infantile epilepsies and/or with innovative designs. The group has also developed strong expertise in identifying and delineating new epilepsy syndromes in neonates and infants, based on video-EEG, imaging, and genetics. The epilepsy research program of this unit has an international reputation. It is currently involved in the European projects EPICURE and PRIOMEDCHILD.

C.Chiron is head of the U663, member of the Commission de Pharmacovigilance and of the Working Group of Paediatric Investigational Plans at the French Agency for Drugs (AFSSAPS), founding member of RIPPS (French Paediatric Network Center for Drugs), and involved in setting international guidelines for the treatment of paediatric epilepsy. C.Chiron has also developed recognized expertise in functional imaging in epileptic children and is co-chair of the ILAE Commission on Neuroimaging.
S.Chhun is a PhD student in U663, currently granted by Inserm, and involved in developing innovative methods for drug evaluation in children, namely population PK, modeling and pharmacogenetics. The research unit U663 has strong links with the departments of Paediatric Clinical Pharmacology in Hospital Cochin-Saint Vincent de Paul (G.Pons, V.Jullien), of Neuropediatrics (Pr Dulac), Intensive Care Unit (P.Hubert and A.Lapillonne) and of EEG (Dr Plouin) in Necker hospital, all retrospectively involved in pharmacology, clinical trial and EEG analysis of the project.
G.Pons, V.Jullien and P.Plouin are also members of the research unit U663.
Stéphane Auvin, MD, PhD, is child neurologist and epileptologist. He is conducting the epilepsy program at Robert Debré Children Hospital, APHP, Paris. He is also conducting research work in the INSERMU676 research unit on inflammation-epilepsy, ketogenic diet and polyunsaturated fatty acids and antiepileptic drugs in the developping brain.