Jouy fabric

The INRA centre of Jouy-en-Josas is comprised of 26 scientific research laboratories on animal production and the agri-food sector: genetics of breeding animals, physiology, animal pathology, hydrobiology, microbiology, food technology, human nutrition, food safety, biometrics, etc.

It is one of INRA's 21 research centres throughout France and its overseas territories. In the Paris area, the Versailles-Grignon centre is its equivalent in plant biology and the environment. These two centres represent just over 20% of INRA's workforce.

The Jouy-en-Josas centre was set up in 1950 to conduct scientific research on breeding animals: cattle, sheep and goats, poultry, pigs, fish, etc. It is now a campus of 1,300 people, more than half of whom are scientists and researchers. Twenty kilometres from Paris, situated in the Domaine de Vilvert, between the villages of Jouy-en-Josas (Yvelines) and Bièvres (Essonne), it has 70,000 m² of laboratories and farm buildings. It also includes two experimental farms with their herds.

The research carried out in Jouy-en-Josas has favoured the expansion and quality of French animal production and consequently of the milk and meat industries. The scientific research has been conducted in close cooperation with professional agricultural organisations and the industries connected with them.

In the fifty years of its existence, its research has helped improve the productivity of farms, the diversification of production and the quality of the products. For example, the average milk production per dairy cow has doubled, the adiposity of pig carcasses has been halved, new products such as table ducks, numerous cheeses and milk products have been developed and milk conservation techniques have been improved. This scientific research has led to the creation of several INRA centres elsewhere in France: in Tours for the physiology of the reproduction of breeding mammals and poultry farming, Clermont-Ferrand for breeding ruminants and meat technology, Toulouse for animal genetics, particularly sheep, Rennes for pig and dairy cow breeding and milk technology.

The activity of the centre is now characterised by the increasing use made of cell and molecular biology techniques and by the creation of original animal models. During this last decade, research on food microbiology and human nutrition has advanced. The centre has become an international biotechnology pole operating around numerous themes: development of the animal embryo, gene transfer, animal cloning, microbial and animal genetic maps, vaccines; human digestive tract flora, lactic acid bacteria for industry, protein engineering. Using these themes, a network has been created with the health sector concerning animal reproduction, immunology, preventive human nutrition, food safety, medical imaging. For example, the centre has developed models - in vitro or in vivo on animals - for studying the effects of eating habits on osteoporosis, the genesis of gallstones or cancer, the development of the brain, the ageing process.

This research is based on the competence and the traditional expertise of the research units of the centre. Through more recently acquired experience and expertise, they are now evolving towards genomics and integrative biology with the help of computing and mathematical modelling.

The Centre's 26 research units (5 of which are joint laboratories) and 4 experimental units are dependent on 8 research departments responsible for strategy and activity assessment. Besides the 900 INRA agents, 50 people are affiliated with other establishments or companies; over 700 trainees and students pass through the Centre each year, of which almost 100 are doctoral students. There is a documentation unit with a considerable scientific library in the fields of animal biology and food technology.

- Distribution of personnel by sector of activity including animals and animal products, nutrition and food safety

Evolution of socio-professional categories

- Site location