Virtually all PURPAN’s research professors are involved in research, development and consulting activities, using their skills to meet the demands of professionals in France and abroad.
In association with the best research organizations (INRAE, CNRS, etc.) and drawing on the school’s research platforms, they aim to meet the demands of companies, establish lasting research partnerships, set up thesis programs, and explore emerging fields.
This research is carried out mainly within the Research Units: Eight of these are Joint Research Units (UMR) bringing together researchers from different organizations, including PURPAN, and one is an Internal Research Unit (UPR), with only researchers from PURPAN.
Summary
UPR – Plant Physiology, Pathology and Genetics (PPGV)
This Internal Research Unit (UPR) is developing research into understanding pathosystems and plant defense mechanisms and studying the accumulation dynamics of agro-molecules of interest.
UMR – AGroecology – Innovations – TeRritories (AGIR)
This UMR works on the interactions between socio-technical, socio-ecological and agroecological systems in order to analyze agrosystem transitions and design innovative agroecological systems.
To achieve this, it brings together researchers and research professors in biotechnology and human and social sciences.
The AGIR JRU sees transition as the need to leave a situation that is deemed untenable. For agriculture, it is motivated by the undesirable effects on farmers’ income and isolation, the environment, territorial inequalities, the health of consumers and workers, animal welfare, etc.
EA – Agri-Food & Environmental Biotechnologies Lab
The Agri-Food & Environmental Biotechnologies Lab (LBAE) focuses on the study of complex microbial systems (CMS) of biotechnological interest in the environmental field, in particular to optimize biological purification processes and recycle residual carbon (water, waste).
In a context of sustainable development and global change, organic effluent and waste can be treated and/or recycled in processes that generally involve biological treatment, whether aerobic (activated sludge, aerobic granules, composting, etc.) or anaerobic (methanization). These biological treatments are made possible by the presence of complex microbial systems, i.e., aggregates mainly made up of cells and ExoPolymeric Substances (EPS) such as proteins, sugars or nucleic acids.
The laboratory’s work aims to:
– Understand and describe EPS secretion from model aggregates or pure strains (heterotrophic bacteria, autotrophic organisms) as a function of nutrient conditions (mainly C/N ratio) or the presence of micropollutants (trace metals, carbon nanoparticles);
– Understand the biological mechanisms involved in this secretion, using molecular approaches (molecular biology and proteomics) to orientate metabolisms towards the production of EPS enabling the recycling of residual carbon (wastewater, biowaste).
UMR – Genetics, Physiology and Livestock Systems (GenPhySE)
Created on January 1, 2014, the Genetics, Physiology and Livestock Systems (GenPhySE) Joint Research Unit constitutes a major center of expertise in animal genetics, integrative biology and, more generally, animal sciences.
It aims to develop animal production systems through genetic, nutritional and husbandry innovations, with a view to sustainable production. Its main activities focus on:
- Improving knowledge of genome structure and functional organization
- Exploring the genetic variability of complex traits in farm animals
- Understanding the biological mechanisms underlying phenotype development
- Improving genetic gain through genomic selection and the design of new breeding programs
- Improving our understanding of environmental effects on phenotypes
- Designing more sustainable livestock production systems
UMR – Interdisciplinary Solidarity, Societies and Territories Lab (LISST)
LISST is a Joint Research Unit in Human and Social Sciences covering a wide range of topics. Its scientific goal is to make a global contribution to understanding the dynamics of contemporary societies.
If focuses on:
– Solidarity: in all its forms, whether spontaneous arrangements or public schemes,
– Societies: globalization, innovation, fragmentation, diversity of social and economic worlds, reconfiguration of inequalities,
– Territories: considered not simply as a “surface” for deployment, but as a component of social dynamics.
Each team’s work is supplemented by five cross-cutting topics, which are both forums for inter-team dialog and thematic incubators: Environment and Society; Globalization; Territorial Differentiation and Collective Action; Innovations and Society; Personal Journeys and Inequality
UMR – Food Toxicology (TOXALIM)
The multi-site and multi-thematic TOXALIM Joint Research Unit brings together nearly 150 people in 8 research teams and 3 technology platforms located in different parts of the Toulouse region. The overall aim of the Joint Research Unit is to develop research programs on the long-term effects of low-level chemical contaminants in food on human and animal health.
PURPAN contributes specifically to the Neuro-Gastroenterology & Nutrition (NGN) team, which boasts expertise in fundamental research into digestive physiopathology.
The team’s scientific focus is threefold, from perinatal care to adulthood.
Theme 1: Study of the regulation of gut barrier function by environmental factors such as type of diet, food contaminants, toxic products or bacterial metabolites generated within the digestive tract associated with psychological stress.
Theme 2: Involvement of the gut-brain axis in regulating gut barrier function.
Theme 3: Nutritional remediation to prevent pathophysiological consequences associated with disruption of the gut barrier function and its dialog with the brain.
UMR – Agro-Industrial Chemistry Laboratory (LCA)
The development of non-food outlets for agricultural products is undoubtedly one of agriculture’s strengths in terms of sustainable development.
Substituting fossil carbon chemistry (petrochemicals) with renewable carbon chemistry (agro-resource chemistry) has become one of the challenges facing agronomic research in France in the years ahead, notably through the development of biofuels (alcohol and oil) and products such as agromaterials, biolubricants, biosolvents, surfactants, etc., all derived from plant biomass.
Created in 1975 by Professor Antoine Gaset, the Agro-Industrial Chemistry Laboratory (UMR 1010 INRA/INP-ENSIACET) was the first public research center to include agro-resource chemistry in its scientific approach.
UMR – DYNAmics & Ecology of Agroforestry Landscapes (Dynafor)
Dynafor is an interdisciplinary Joint Research Unit (UMR) whose aim is to generate knowledge on the representations, ecological functioning, management and governance of agroforestry landscapes in order to help implement sustainable agroecological and sylvoecological practices.
Dynafor’s work draws on the concept of socioecological landscapes, defined from an ecological perspective as a set of interacting ecosystems, and from a social science perspective as one of the social arenas where stakeholders interact. Work focuses on the level of organization of the landscapes, but takes into account other levels of organization, from the ecosystem or farming unit (agricultural plot or forest stand) to the region or biome.
Dynafor is unique in that it studies landscapes at the interface between forest and agriculture, taking into account a wide gradient of landscapes, from agricultural landscapes with isolated trees to large forests, mainly in temperate environments.
UMR – Quantum Physics and Chemistry Laboratory (LCPQ)
The LCPQ currently covers several fields of theoretical chemistry (essentially quantum chemistry) and theoretical molecular physics.
A major part of its activities lies at the interface between theoretical chemistry and molecular physics. It has a significant methodological component, producing calculation and simulation codes, as well as teams involved in applications to systems of physico-chemical and biological interest: molecular magnetism, very high-resolution spectroscopy, reactivity and photochemistry of coordination complexes and biomolecules, aggregates and nanoparticles.
In particular, PURPAN contributes to the “Modeling, Aggregates, Dynamics” (M.A.D.) team, which is developing modeling and numerical simulation to study complex atomic and molecular aggregates whose size ranges from a few atoms or tens of atoms to several thousand.
