GDR "microbiomes" REVMICNAT
New challenges induced by microbiomes
Project leader(s)
OVERVIEW OF THE GDR
Studies of microbiomes - communities of microbes interacting with each other, with their animal and plant hosts, and with their environments - are revealing the evolutionary, functional and ecosystemic importance of these creatures, which are both the most abundant and the oldest forms of life on our planet. As a result, microbes are directly or indirectly among the objects of study of a great many disciplines, which might otherwise seem essentially disjointed, since they focus on different objects and questions. Microbiome studies therefore now appear not only as sources of inspiration and new knowledge about our past, but also as bearers of a yet-to-be-defined transformative potential, or even as vectors of unsuspected scientific unification, towards, perhaps, a coming global ‘microbiome revolution’, characterized by this GDR, and which would profoundly change legal, ethical, medical, biological, philosophical, architectural, political and artistic conceptions and practices.
PROGRAM AND MAIN OBJECTIVES
The international, multidisciplinary GDR REVMICNAT aims to bring together the skills of a wide variety of colleagues from research teams in different disciplines in which the ‘microbiome’ object is gradually (or suddenly) taking on an increasingly important role, in order to carry out a wide-ranging collective reflection on the extent of the consequences of recent discoveries on microbiomes.
Recognized experts from a wide range of disciplines will examine the consequences of these discoveries on concepts and practices, identifying a “before” and an “after” for the inclusion of microbiomes in their disciplines. Lawyers, philosophers of science and of the environment, biologists, artists, architects and science popularizers will meet, share their points of view and their experiences to assess together the consequences of the discoveries around microbiomes.
This cross-fertilization of perspectives will not only reveal the singular impact of microbiome studies on each of these disciplines, but also identify any shared trends induced by the consideration of microbiomes, while painting an overall picture of the conceptual renovation accompanying the realization that species, including our own, do not live alone, but are always surrounded and shaped by microbiomes.
To achieve its objective, REVMICNAT will use all the means traditionally available to GDRs: student exchanges between participating laboratories, facilitated internal collaborations, proposals for the organization of thematic schools and conferences (Ecole d’été du CNRS, Conférence Jacques Monod), the annual organization of free colloquia, open to the general public and academic colleagues (registration required), and, at regular intervals, the publication of articles and review books.
Annual colloquia will play a structuring role in this GDR, as they will provide an opportunity to expand the list of GDR participants and experts, based on the approaches already identified as foundational (legal, philosophical, ethical, scientific, artistic and popularization approaches). To this end, each contributor to the first year’s colloquium will be invited to identify and nominate a colleague from his or her own speciality, motivated by the challenges of this GDR. This colleague will in turn be invited to speak at the second-year symposium, and so on. Each year, speakers from previous years will also be invited to take part in the current year’s symposium, and to send members of their laboratories and students.
More specifically, these recurring participants will act as chairpersons and scientific referees during the upcoming symposium. The arrival of these scientific respondents will be facilitated in part by REVMICNAT funding. However, for those scientific sponsors who wish to do so, additional funding will be sought to facilitate their presence throughout the symposium. On the other hand, each year’s guests, selected by the GDR REVMICNAT scientific committee, will be fully financed for the duration of the project by the REVMICNAT annual funding. Naturally, each of these symposia will be open to the public (with free registration), and in particular to doctoral and post-doctoral students in the disciplines concerned. The colloquia will also be publicized via the mainstream media (radio, scientific journals), as several GDR members are in regular contact with the media. Recordings of the presentations will also be publicly available on the web.
This aggregative and open approach will thus help to identify teams and researchers working in a research sector where the consideration of microbes and knowledge about microbes is likely to transform established knowledge. The objectives of this research protocol will therefore be twofold. On the one hand, to ensure the development of the network thanks to contributions from a renewed set of contributors, in a format that encourages discussion and meetings between researchers, doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows, thus anchoring multi-disciplinary cooperation. The 2nd, 4th and 5th years will also see the completion of a large-scale synthesis. For the first two years, this synthesis work will take the form of at least one multidisciplinary journal article (published in line with CNRS open science policies), followed by a collective published work. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations between at least two members of the GDR will be encouraged and supported to the extent of available financial resources (in particular by enabling working meetings).
Scientific committee of the GDR REVMICNAT
- PI : Fabrice Not
- Legal aspects of the Microbiome: Géraldine Aïdan
- Anthropology and microbiomes: Frédéric Keck
- Philosophy and microbiomes: Philippe Huneman
- Scientific coordination/animation: Eric Bapteste
- Environmental microbiology and microbiomes: Catherine Larose
- Arts and microbiome: FJ Lapointe and Liliane Campos
- Health & Microbiome: Philippe Gérard
- Holobionts and microbiomes: Manuel Blouin
- Architecture and microbiomes: Philippe Rahm
- Scientific diffusion and microbiomes: Marc-André Sélosse
- Bioremediation and microbiomes: Laura Hug
Web links to former editions of the REVMICNAT colloquia :
October 22nd : REVMICNAT7 in Paris (France).
Please find below a description of the interdisciplinary colloquium « New Challenges Induced by Microbiomes » (REVMICNAT7).
Anyone is invited to attend. Feel very free to advertise by forwarding this email to anyone you may think would be interested.
The GDR REVMICNAT offers to contribute (partially or fully) to one more contributed talk : if you have something you would like to share with us about microbiomes, and you would like your talk to be selected, please simply email a title and an abstract to : epbapteste@gmail.com before September 6th 2026.
The event is free, hybrid (attendees can join either in person or virtually) but upon registration by email before September 10th to : epbapteste@gmail.com. <epbapteste@gmail.com>. When emailing, please let me know whether you would prefer to attend virtually or in person (40 seats, on a first serve, first come basis).
It will take place within the University Jussieu, Jussieu Campus, on October 22th 2026.
Preliminary program :
Pr. Joël Doré (INRA, France) (Biological Sciences): The French Gut, in the context of the History of gut microbiome studies’
Dr. Davina Höll (Center for Gender and Diversity Research, Tuebingen, Germany) (Literature) : ‘Representation of microbes and microbiomes in the literature : what consequences ?’
Dr. José-Manuel Fernández-Real (Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Girona, Girona, Spain) (Biological Sciences): Mind-gut connection and the impact of human microbiome on cognition
Dr. Christina Menni (Department of Twin Research, Ageing & Genomic Epidemiology, King’s College, London, UK) (Economy) : The impact of socioeconomic deprivation on microbiomes
Dr. Kinga Zielinska (Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland) (Sports) : Microbiomes and sports performance
Pr. Louis-Patrick Haraoui (Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé, Université de Sherbrooke. Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada) (Anthropology & Medecine) : On war, peace and microbiomes
Pr. Rachel Armstrong (Regenerative Architecture, Arts & Design, KU Leuven, Belgium) (Architecture) : Microbiomes in the built environment
Pr. John Dupré (University of Exeter, UK) (Philosophy) : How taking microbiomes into account transforms our views on their host entities
Dr. Théodore Bouchez (UR PROSE, INRAE, France) (Biotechnologies): Environmental engineering and microbiomes
Dr. Jelena Kolosnjaj-Tabi (Institut de pharmacologie et biologie structurale - IPBS (CNRS/Université Toulouse, France)(Nanotechnologies): How nanotechnologies could enhance our interactions with microbes
Dr. Nicolas Rascovan (Institut Pasteur, France) (Microbiology and History) : Using ancient microbes to learn about human history
Dr. Romain Koszul (Institut Pasteur, France) (Biological Sciences) : On the commonality of phages with broad host range across ecosystems
Dr. Leonie Bossert (University of Vienna, Austria) (Ethics & Political Philosophy): Ethical investigation of relational values associated with the microbial world