"Prix solennel de la Chancellerie," Fondation de l'Avenir Donors' Award, Agnes Ullmann Prize, Institut Pasteur Young Scientist Prize, ERC-Consolidator Grant: Institut Pasteur scientists recognized

•    Mathilde Ruggiu et Yann Aquino, winners of the "Prix solennel de la Chancellerie"

Since 2020, the French National Academy of Medicine has joined forces with the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris to award the "Prix solennels de la Chancellerie," which recognize the outstanding academic and scientific quality of a PhD thesis defended during the previous calendar year.

On December 3, Mathilde Ruggiu and Yann Aquino, PhD students at the Institut Pasteur, received this award for the excellence of her thesis.

Mathilde Ruggiu, a PhD student in the Dynamics of Immune Responses Unit led by Philippe Bousso, is honored with this award in the field of oncology, for her research work entitled: "Anti-PD-1 therapy promotes CD8 T cell responses in the draining lymph node of a tumor via the secretion of interleukin 4 by T follicular helper cells."

 

 

 

Yann Aquino, a PhD student in the Human Evolutionary Genetics Unit led by Lluis Quintana-Murci received this award in the field of infectious diseases in recognition of his research into "Genetic and evolutionary bases of interpopulation variability in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2."

 

Find out more about the awards ceremony

•    Benoit Chassaing, winner of the Fondation de l'Avenir Donors' Award

Since 2004, donors to the Fondation de l'Avenir have selected one out of a shortlist of six outstanding projects to receive the Donors' Award, funded by the Mutualité Fonction Publique (MFP).

This year, Benoit Chassaing and his team in the Microbiome-Host Interactions five-year group were recognized for their research on the identification of bacteria associated with the intestinal mucus and their role in colorectal cancer.

 

 

•    Zeynep Baharoglu and Thomas Rolland, winners of the Agnes Ullmann Prize

In accordance with the wishes of Agnes Ullmann, the renowned Institut Pasteur scientist who passed away in 2019, an award has been set up in her name to recognize the work of young scientists in molecular biology or microbiology.
 
The aim of the Agnes Ullmann Prize aim is to encourage early career scientists. It is awarded to two scientists (one female and one male) for their outstanding contribution to research in life sciences at an Institut Pasteur laboratory.
 
This year's two winners are:

Zeynep Baharoglu, scientist in the Bacterial Genome Plasticity Unit, leads a research group focusing on how Gram-negative bacteria adapt to environmental changes and antibiotic stress.  The projects of her group are centered on the hitherto unsuspected role for modifications of RNA bases in antibacterial sensitivity or resistance. Her projects are both highly innovative and fundamental and open up prospects for applications in the treatment of infectious diseases.

 

Thomas Rolland, scientist in the Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions Unit, has made significant contributions in the competitive field of human genomics of neurodevelopmental disorders. In particular, his large-scale exploration of genomic and phenotypic data in individuals carrying autism-associated mutations provided a new understanding of the phenotypic consequences of such mutations depending on additional genetic, social and environmental factors.

 

 

 

•    Ségolène Bernheim et Gaspard Kerner, winners of the Institut Pasteur Young Scientist Prize

In 2018, the Institut Pasteur introduced the Institut Pasteur Young Scientist Prize. The award, established to mark the Institut Pasteur's 130th anniversary, is presented each year to a PhD student and a postdoctoral fellow who were first authors of high-level research papers published during the year.
 
The 2024 winners are:

 

Ségolène Bernheim, PhD student in the Heart Morphogenesis Unit, led by Sigolène Meilhac for her article published in Developmental Cell in 2023: "Identification of Greb1l as a genetic determinant of crisscross heart in mice showing torsion of the heart tube by shortage of progenitor cells".

 

Gaspard Kerner, postdoctoral fellow in the Human Evolutionary Genetics unit led by Lluis Quintana-Murci, for his research work published in Cell Genomics in 2023: "Genetic adaptation to pathogens and increased risk of inflammatory disorders in post-Neolithic Europe".

 

 

•    Benoit Chassaing et Michael White, winners of an ERC Consolidator Grant

ERC Consolidator Grants provide mid-career researchers with two to three million euros over a five-year period for the development of ambitious, innovative research projects.

On December 3, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the results of the 2024 Consolidator Grant call for proposals. Two Institut Pasteur scientists were among this year's 328 laureates:

Benoit Chassaing, Head of the Microbiome-Host Interactions five-year group, was awarded a grant for his project "InterBiome – Exploring functional inter-individual variations in the intestinal microbiome for personalized nutrition," aimed at identifying the mechanisms used by the gut microbiota to dictate inter-individual variations in the responses to certain food additives that affect gut health.

 

 

Michael White, Head of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Analytics five-year group, was selected for his project "ULTIMASero – Understanding Long-term Trends in Multi-pathogen Epidemiology in Africa using Multiplex Serological and Molecular Assays," which explores long-term developments in infectious disease epidemiology by adopting a multi-pathogen approach using multiplex serological and molecular assays, epidemiological research and statistical modeling. This research project is carried out in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar and the Pasteur Center in Cameroon.

Read the ERC press release

See the full list of the 328 recipients of 2024 ERC Consolidator Grants