ANR PEPR PROPSY: Precision Psychiatry

Funding is available to research structures in France for preclinical, clinical and mixed research projects focused on the development of precision psychiatry, integrating advances in neurosciences, genomics, artificial intelligence and biomedicine. 

Launched in July 2022 thanks to funding from the France 2030 investment plan and piloted by Inserm and CNRS with support from Fondation FondaMental, PROPSY is an exploratory research programme dedicated to precision psychiatry. It forms part of France 2030’s Programmes et Équipements Prioritaires de Recherche (PEPR – Priority Research Programmes and Equipment). The programme, with a budget of €80 million over seven years, is intended to develop precision psychiatry by integrating research advances in neuroscience, genomics, artificial intelligence (AI) and biomedicine to make improvements for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorder, with a particular focus on four of the most disabling disorders: bipolar disorder; treatment-resistant depression; schizophrenia; and autism spectrum disorder. 

The Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR – French National Research Agency) has been entrusted to administer a call for proposals on behalf of PEPR PROPSY. The call is intended to support the following research projects:

• Preclinical studies with the objectives of improving understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying homogeneous clinical forms or clinical dimensions of interest for PEPR PROPSY.
• Clinical studies that seek to identify and/or validate unimodal and multimodal biomarkers for diagnostic, predictive or prognostic stratification in existing national or international databases.
• Clinical trials that seek to test targeted therapeutic strategies in homogeneous patient subgroups. 
• Mixed projects (from preclinical to clinical applications and/or industrialisation) to support precision psychiatry at the interface between basic research, clinical research and care.

Projects are expected to help transform and improve the capacities of the French research sector in order to improve its European and international standing and its impact on the economy and on society.