The COFUND FP-DYNAMO-PARIS programme (federating three major French Institutions such as the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimiqe, the École Normale Supérieure and the Collège de France) offers a unique interdisciplinary environment and a fundamental research initiative in the centre of Paris. The goal of the research programme is to integrate knowledge on gene expression, structural and membrane biology, and bioenergetics in bacteria, chloroplasts and mitochondria in the general context of improving our understanding the biogenesis of energy-transducing membranes.