IM2B is a project for an interdisciplinary training and research institute at AMU bringing together teams from the following laboratories: AFMB, BIAM, BBF, BIP, IGS, ISM2, LCB, LISM, BBF, MIO, M2P2, all of which are internationally recognised for their research into microorganisms and their applications. The MIO has been integrated into this institute thanks to the activities of the MEB team in these fields. The M2B institute will integrate the multi-scale dimension for studies ranging from molecules to ecosystems, the potential applications of which will feed approaches linked to societal issues. Integrating training and research in microbiology, biotechnology and bioenergy, IM2B will also be a key gateway for local authorities and industry in the field of biotechnology.
Over and above the fundamental questions of how living organisms function on different scales, from the production of energy to cellular communication, and including an understanding of the emergence of living organisms, microbiology provides innovative solutions in biotechnology, where chemical reactions and biological synthesis routes, different from traditional chemistry, offer applications in particular in the energy field, such as CO2 storage, production of biofuel, biogas or bioethanol, new bioinspired materials, biodetection or biosourced molecules, but also in the environmental field (bio-pollution, etc.) or health.) and health. This integrative vision of the foundations and applications of microbiology has taken off in recent years, in a more or less dispersed way, within laboratories in Marseille.
The Institute of Microbiology, Bioenergies and Biotechnologies (IM2B) project is part of this modern, integrative, multi-scale microbiology, which analyses the full diversity of these mechanisms, models and biotechnological applications.