To access all features of this site, you must enable Javascript. Here are the instructions for enabling Javascript in your web browser.
Fundamental Research Division
The DRF at the CEA assemble approximately 6,000 scientists since January 2016.
Researchers at the Irig, in collaboration with the CEA-Leti, have developed a microfluidic chip that can measure insulin secretion from a single pancreatic islet. The same technology can be adapted to other biological tissues and secretomes.
Involvement in funding programmes, contribution to public policies through its scientific expertise, and development of major partnerships: the CEA has strengthened its European strategy over the past few years, making cooperation its watchword. Bertrand Bouchet, the CEA director of European Affairs, discusses the CEA’s position on Europe and the French presidency of the EU Council.
Using data from the Healthy Brain Network cohort, a team from the CEA-Joliot (NeuroSpin) has discovered a correlation between certain symptoms, which may be precursors of mood disorders in adulthood, and structural changes in the developing brain in more than 650 young people.
The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) has just crossed a symbolic threshold. The collaboration, which includes the CEA-Irfu, has revealed a new upper limit of 0.8 eV/c2 for the mass of neutrinos. This result is of fundamental interest for both particle physics and cosmology.
Scientists from the EUROfusion consortium, which the CEA (IRFM) participates in, recently recorded the production of 59 megajoules of fusion energy over several seconds at the world’s only operational tokamak using deuterium and tritium: the Joint European Torus (JET) in the UK. In an environment very similar to that of ITER, they succeeded in piloting the fusion plasma according to their simulations. This brilliant demonstration confirms both the ITER project and the potential of fusion energy!
A new international study coordinated by the LSCE (CEA-CNRS-UVSQ) has revealed hundreds of very large methane leaks from oil and gas production facilities. This work draws on data collected by the European satellite Sentinel-5P.
In order to fight sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia, two common genetic diseases affecting red blood cells, the AP-HP, the University of Paris, Inserm (Imagine Institute), Paris-Est Créteil University and the CEA-Jacob have conducted a clinical study utilizing the transplantation of a patient’s own genetically modified stem cells. A phase I/II trial with bluebird bio as the sponsor has been completed.
The X-ray space telescope, which was provided by France for the SVOM space mission, and for which the CEA-Irfu made a significant contribution, is now operational! The launch of the Franco-Chinese satellite is scheduled for 2023.
Researchers from the CEA-Irig (IBS), Grenoble Alpes University, the CNRS and the ESRF have described for the first time an essential interaction between two SARS-CoV-2 proteins that could inspire a new therapeutic strategy against COVID-19.
Using a “pump-probe” spectroscopic technique, researchers at the CEA-Irig have succeeded in creating an authentic identity map of individual quantum bits, based on the spin of holes in silicon. This is an essential task that can easily be extrapolated to high qubit densities!
Top page
CEA is a French government-funded technological research organisation in four main areas: low-carbon energies, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. A prominent player in the European Research Area, it is involved in setting up collaborative projects with many partners around the world.