The Laboratory of Neurobiology, created in 1996, is established at the Alfort School of Veterinary Medicine, near Paris. The Laboratory belongs to the team “Biology of the neuromuscular system” (BNMS), part of the ESPRY research department of Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale (IMRB), directed by the professor Frederic Relaix. The BNMS has been created in January 2015 by the fusion of five groups from the UPE-C, INSERM and EnvA, and is also associated with CNRS and EFS.

The BNMS’s first objective is to describe neuromuscular diseases. To identify the genetic or environmental origin of these diseases, to understand the pathogenic mechanisms that underlie them, at the molecular, cellular or systemic level. The molecular characterization integrated on the scale of the whole organism makes possible to identify new genetic, cellular or pharmacological tools with a therapeutic aim.

The second objective of the BNMS is to evaluate the reliability of innovative therapeutic tools for neuromuscular diseases by integrating the preclinical and clinical phases of the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of these therapeutic tools in the same team, first in animals and then in patients.
 
The research aims of the Laboratory of Neurobiology are to study canine and feline neuromuscular diseases and to evaluate therapeutic benefits provided by new strategies involving pharmacological, genic or cellular tools that had already showed encouraging results in in vitro experiments or on small animal models.
 
In order to accomplish this delicate work, the Laboratory of Neurobiology has established a platform of therapeutic assays associated with an intensive care unit allowing the medical maintenance of sick animals.
 
Thanks to subventions, and in particular the permanent support of the AFM, the laboratory has considerable human resources. Indeed, about twenty people coming from various horizons (veterinary, researcher, engineers, technicians of research and animal house technicians) collaborate on a daily basis.
 
Armed with its competences and its experiences, the Laboratory of Neurobiology occupies a choice place in the international scientific landscape: it’s one of the few teams having the handiness of large-size animal models and it develops multiple collaborations with high scientific quality research groups.
 
In parallel, the Laboratory of Neurobiology contributes to a quality teaching taking mainly part in the training of the Alfort School of Veterinary Medicine.