Ranked the number one agricultural institute in Europe and number two in the world, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) carries out mission-oriented research guided by developments in scientific fields and focuses on worldwide challenges related to food and nutrition, the environment and land use facing the world of agriculture and agronomics today. Challenges such as climate change, human nutrition, competition between food and non-food crops, the exhaustion of fossil resources and appropriate land management put agronomists in a position to generate compatible economic, social and environmental development. INRA produces fundamental knowledge that leads to innovation and know-how for society. INRA lends its expertise to public decision-making. Founded in 1946 in France, INRA is a public research institution under the joint authority of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries.
http://www.international.inra.fr
In this context, the BDR (Biology of Development and Reproduction) research unit headed by Dr Corinne COTINOT at Jouy-en-Josas aims at i) exploring the capacities of adaptation of a developing embryo to its environment, ii) investigating the factors involved in the cross-talk embryo-conceptus/mother and the role of maternal and foetal nutrition on placental function and mechanisms leading to the Developmental Origins of Human Adult Diseases (DOHAD), iii) characterizing and spatially modelling the networks of genes linking to critical phases of the development: embryonic genome activation, implantation, differentiation of the placenta and gonads.

Persons involved in the project:
Prof. Jean-Paul Renard
Dr. Alice Jouneau
Dr. Isabelle Hue
Dr. H. Jammes
Dr. N. Beaujean
M. Luc Jouneau