April 26, 2024
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
ERC Advanced Grant, AAM, EAM, Academia Europaea: several Institut Pasteur scientists recognized
- Charles Baroud selected for funding by the European Research Council
On April 11, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the results of the 2023 Advanced Grant call for proposals. This year, 255 grants were awarded in various research fields.
Charles Baroud, head of the Institut Pasteur's Microfluidics, Physics and Bioengineering unit, was honored this year for his “MELCART” project, which applies mechanobiology to in vitro models (spheroids, organoids) reproducing tissues made up of several cell types and organized in complex 3D structures.
As they develop and interact with their environment, living organisms subject their tissues to mechanical stresses of varying duration. These have a major impact at many stages of life (early embryonic development, regulation and stabilization of adult tissues, disease progression). Mechanobiology studies these phenomena and has already highlighted numerous mechanosensitive circuits within the cell. But what about the response of tissues made up of several cell types and organized in complex 3D structures to these constraints?
The Melcart project applies mechanobiology to in vitro models reproducing these structures (spheroids, organoids). Innovative microdevices integrating concepts from the science of architected materials - composite materials with singular mechanical properties - and soft robotics - robots with flexible structures - are being developed to generate mechanical forcing on a cellular scale. The devices developed are then coupled with a unique method for measuring and characterizing cells (multiscale cytometry) and with soft matter physics. This interdisciplinary work opens up a new field of study and understanding of the phenomena at play in certain diseases or in stem cell differentiation. They will contribute to the development of new cell characterization strategies and potentially to the identification of mechanosensitive pathways for treating cancerous tumors.
The ERC has become a benchmark for excellence in European science. It seeks to recruit and provide funding for leading international researchers in Europe, and above all to develop Europe's scientific competitiveness.
- Mart Krupovic elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology
The American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) is an honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology that is committed to promoting microbiology. It is entirely dedicated to microbiologists and to microbiology as a scientific discipline.
AAM Fellows are elected annually through a highly selective peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology. Being elected as an AAM Fellow demonstrates recognition of the excellence of a scientist's research.
On February 15, Mart Krupovic, Head of the Archaeal Virology five-year unit, became one of 65 new Fellows elected by the Academy.
- Aude Bernheim, Mart Krupovic and Marc Lecuit, new Fellows of the European Academy of Microbiology
The European Academy of Microbiology (EAM) is an initiative of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS). Its mission is to promote excellence in microbiology across Europe through targeted activities and programs. New EAM Fellows are appointed by the other members following a highly selective collective decision-making process based on their scientific research and their original contribution to progress in microbiology.
This year, Aude Bernheim, Mart Krupovic and Marc Lecuit were elected as new Fellows and joined the Academy.
- Two Institut Pasteur scientists elected as new members of Academia Europaea
Academia Europaea was set up in 1988 in Cambridge as a European non-governmental association for the promotion of education and research. It currently has nearly 3,500 expert members from 35 European countries and eight non-European countries specializing in a wide variety of fields including social science, medicine, economics, law, literature and mathematics.
Two Institut Pasteur scientists were recently elected as new members of Academia Europaea in recognition of their achievements and their respective contributions to European research: Michaela Müller-Trutwin, Head of the HIV, Inflammation and Persistence Unit, and Eduardo Rocha, Head of the Microbial Evolutionary Genomics Unit.