Valerie Lallemand-BreitenbachDirector of the Mission for Scientific Expertise (MPES)
In 2002 Valerie Lallemand-Breitenbach joined the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) as a researcher working at the University Institute of Haematology at Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris. She was appointed as a research professor in 2014 and led a team at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology at the Collège de France, from 2015 onwards. Her initial work on the combination of molecules to treat a mouse model of acute leukaemia enabled the first example of a cure by targeted cancer therapy to be developed. Interdisciplinarity is a core element of her research as she has combined preclinical studies, cell biology, biochemistry and more recently biophysics in her work. She was awarded the Madame Victor Noury Grand Prix by the French Academy of Sciences in 2013. She is a member of the expert committee of the French National Alliance for Life Sciences and Health's (AVIESAN) Multi-Organism Thematic Institute (ITMO) dedicated to cancer.
Right from the start of her career, Valerie Lallemand-Breitenbach has been involved in scientific mediation, devoting a year to this service at the Inserm in 2011. Working alongside committed female researchers and over 400 scientists in mainland France and French overseas territories, she has developed, diversified and professionalised the work of the 'Arbre des Connaissances' (Tree of Knowledge) association of scientists which works on scientific outreach to citizens and particularly young people.
Missions
The Mission for Scientific Expertise's aim is to respond to requests for recent data from research mainly from public organisations and institutions. The MPES defines and implements the CNRS's institutional scientific expertise strategy in compliance with the CNRS expertise charter. It centralises requests for institutional expertise and manages responses to these. In this framework, the MPES organises and coordinates expertise work in scientific and organisational terms while also managing communication about its activities. The objectives of the MPES are to share knowledge and support public decision-making processes by providing independent scientific insight on specific issues.