Louis Pasteur Bicentenary Prize: five scientists rewarded

As we celebrate the bicentenary of Louis Pasteur’s birth, the Institut Pasteur rewarded, with the support of the Carlsberg Foundation, five talented researchers. These prizes, given on January 26, 2023, reward achievements reflecting the “Pasteur ethos” in the fields of biomedical research, public health or innovation.

The International Jury was presided over by Pascale Cossart, Professor at the Institut Pasteur and honorary perpetual secretary of the French Academy of Sciences, with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (2008) and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Emmanuelle Charpentier (2020).

This exceptional ceremony was held to honor five researchers with five awards:

Senior Scientist Institut Pasteur Prize: Arnaud Fontanet, Head of Epidemiology of Emerging Diseases Unit, at the Institut Pasteur
Field: Guillain-Barré syndrome epidemic associated with Zika virus infection in French Polynesia

 

 

 

Junior Scientist Institut Pasteur Prize: Mélanie Anne Hamon,  Head of Chromatin and Infection Unit, at the Institut Pasteur.
Field: Pneumococcal infections and the discovery of a mechanism that regulates the response between asymptomatic and severe forms

 

 

Pasteur Network Prize: Leo Lit Man Poon, co-director of the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, member of the Pasteur Network
Field: Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 delta variant from pet hamsters to humans, leading to onward human-to-human transmission

 

 

Junior Pasteur Alumni Prize: Serge Mostowy, Professor of Cell Biology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Field: understanding of the mechanism of action of a component of the host cell cytoskeleton (called septin), which recognizes and traps dividing bacterial cells to eliminate them by autophagy.

 

Senior Pasteur Alumni Prize: Bruno Canard, Director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (French: Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS).
Field: introduction of viral structural genomics as a scientific field targeting functional enzyme domains from viral non-structural proteins.

 

 

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Pasteur and Carlsberg: a long history of science and friendship

When Louis Pasteur filed a patent for a beer production process, the Carlsberg brewery was the first to use it in Denmark. Jacob Christian Jacobsen, founder of Carlsberg, developed a deep respect for Pasteur. Their mutual esteem and sincere friendship stood the test of time. A symbol of their relationship is the famous painting by Léon Bonnat, produced in 1886 at the request of J.C. Jacobsen and given by his son Carl Jacobsen to Louis Pasteur in 1888.

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