MIB launches its Patient Partnership Working Group
Marseille, 7 July 2026 – How can patients be involved in the research and innovation projects led by Marseille Immunology Biocluster? This was the central question addressed by the first participants in MIB’s Patient Partnership Working Group, who met on 26 June at IMéRA, located in Marseille’s Palais Longchamp.
This inaugural session brought together patient organisations, professionals involved in improving the patient experience, researchers and clinicians. The aim was to lay the foundations for meaningful, practical and lasting patient involvement in projects developed within MIB.
As a biocluster dedicated to immunology, MIB seeks to better integrate the experience of people living with immune-mediated diseases—including autoimmune diseases, chronic inflammatory diseases and cancers—into the development of research and innovation projects.
A forum for dialogue and co-creation
The day began with a presentation of MIB, its ambitions, activities and ecosystem of founding members and partners. The purpose of this introduction was to give participants a clear overview of the initiative and help them identify the role that patients could play within it.
The working group was then presented as a forum for collective reflection and development. The intention is not to begin with a predefined model, but to work with participants to determine the most relevant forms of involvement.
“Our aim today is not to present a ready-made model. On the contrary, we want to draw on this diversity of experience to develop, together, a roadmap aligned with MIB’s ambitions,” explains Stéphanie Gentile, who is involved in the governance, organisation and operation of the working group.
Within MIB, patient partnership is envisaged as an approach based on dialogue, transparency and co-creation, with a specific focus on research and innovation.
Three priority areas
Discussions focused on three main areas: the governance and operation of the working group; cohorts, biobanks and the organisation of resources that can support research; and patient information, recruitment into research projects and the associated ethical considerations.
According to Professor Divi Cornec, co-lead of C2IT and head of the workstream dedicated to cohorts, biobanks and resources, patient partners and patient organisations have an essential role to play.
“Patient partners and patient organisations have a strong understanding of the expertise and research projects being developed in France, as they are often directly involved in them. They therefore have a crucial role to play in identifying the resources that could support research projects developed within the scope of MIB.”
Their contribution will help create stronger links between the needs of researchers, clinicians, industry stakeholders and people affected by these diseases.
“Bringing the voices of patients and caregivers into the process helps ensure that research projects conducted through MIB have the greatest possible positive impact on global health and society,” adds Divi Cornec.
Towards a shared roadmap
Beyond this inaugural meeting, the Patient Partnership Working Group is intended to become a forum for dialogue between researchers, clinicians, industry stakeholders, patient organisations and patient partners.
The aim is to make it easier for project leaders supported by MIB to engage with representatives of the patients concerned, so that they can develop research projects that address both scientific priorities and the needs of people living with immune-mediated diseases.
This first session laid the foundations for a collective approach. The discussions will now inform a shared roadmap defining the group’s priorities, its operating procedures and the first actions to be implemented.
For MIB, this initiative represents an important step towards research that is more closely aligned with the needs of patients, caregivers and society.
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