Research with a strong clinical focus
The Mediterranean Centre for Molecular Medicine (C3M) was created in Nice on 1 January 2008, under the direction of Dr Yannick Le Marchand-Brustel and under the responsibility of the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm) and the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS). The creation of the C3M was a response to the desire of researchers and clinicians from four independent Inserm research units to combine their expertise and skills in order to create a synergy at the interface between fundamental and clinical research. This multidisciplinary centre originally included 10 research teams and more than 130 people.
The decision to build this new research centre within the Archet Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Nice, thus allowed for the promotion of translational research, from the bench to the bedside and vice versa.
The C3M was renewed in 2012 under the leadership of Dr Patrick Auberger. Since its creation, the composition of the C3M has expanded with the arrival of new researchers and clinicians, the creation of three Atip/Avenir teams between 2012 and 2014 and the emergence in 2012 of the team led by Dr Sophie Tartare-Deckert. In 2018, the C3M was renewed under the direction of Dr Patrick Auberger, with the thirteen proposed research teams including three new teams. The research carried out at C3M is based on three themes: cancer, infectious diseases and cardio-metabolic diseases. The C3M teams work closely with doctors and clinicians from a dozen clinical departments at Nice University Hospital.
C3M was visited by the SAB (Science Advisory Board) in February 2022 and by the HCERES (Haut Conseil de l'Evaluation de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur) in 2023, and added a fourteenth team. In 2024, the C3M was designated an outstanding research centre by Inserm, and Dr Sophie Tartare-Deckert took over as its director.
