As part of the 2nd wave of call for Laboratories of Excellence projects « Investments for the future » opened by the french government with a budget of one billion euros, 195 projects were received. Of the 71 winners, the IRON project « Innovative Radiopharmaceuticals in Oncology and Neurology » was certified laboratory of Excellence « Labex » on February 14, 2012.
The IRON Labex is carried by Nantes University.
Based on a partnership between Nantes University, GIP Arronax, IMT Atlantique, CNRS, Inserm, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes, and Angers University, Orléans University and Tours University, the IRON Labex has been funded for 8 years (2012-2019) up to 4.5 millions euros. The 8th of february 2019, following a positive evaluation by an international jury, the IRON Labex has been extended for 5 years (2020-2024) with a budget of 1.78 millions euros.
The IRON Labex is also based on a partnership with:
- CHU de Nantes, Angers, and Caen, ICO René Gauducheau, Centre Eugène Marquis, CEA, Cyceron, Universities of Caen Basse-Normandie, Rennes 1 and Toulouse III, and Ecole Vétérinaire de Toulouse
- The Pays de la Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, Normandie, Occitanie/Pyrénées-Méditerranée, Grand Est, and Bretagne regional councils
