First ceremony celebrating the Institut Pasteur's inventors

On June 27, the very first ceremony celebrating the Institut Pasteur's inventors was held on the Paris campus, attended by Institut Pasteur President Christian Bréchot, Paul R. Sanberg, President of the US National Academy of Inventors (NAI), Isabelle Buckle, Vice-President Research Applications and Industrial Relations, and Nicolas Torno, Head of the Patents and Inventions Department.

This event, perfectly in tune with the pioneering spirit of Louis Pasteur and the ensuing generations of Institut Pasteur scientists, recognized the efforts of 14 scientists whose research has given rise to several US patents involving licenses or to start-ups, generating a positive impact for the Institut Pasteur and for the wider society.

At the ceremony, the 14 inventors were also appointed as Fellows of the NAI:

• Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Luc Montagnier and Simon Wain-Hobson, for their research on HIV1

• Pierre Sonigo, for his research on HIV2

• Pierre Charneau, for his work on lentiviruses

• Bernard Dujon and André Choulika, for their "molecular scissors"

• Pierre Tiollais and Marie-Louise Michel, for the yeast- and CHO-derived recombinant hepatitis B vaccine

• Christine Petit, for her work on early-onset hearing loss and the connexin 26 mutation

• Marie Flamand, for the immunodiagnostic test for dengue

• Claude Leclerc, for research on the MAG-Tn3 cancer vaccine

• Frédéric Tangy, for the Measles Platform

• Catherine Rougeot, for her work on opiorphin

The Institut Pasteur, a member institution of the NAI since 2015, was keen to celebrate the curiosity, creativity, innovation and invention that embody its rich heritage. This event also reaffirmed the Institut Pasteur's role as an "invention accelerator" over the coming years and highlights its determination to raise awareness among scientists on campus of the importance of registering inventions and applying for patents – in their own interests but also in the interests of others and the Institut Pasteur as a whole.

The NAI was set up in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors holding patents issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and ensure that the inventions of its members benefit society. The National Academy of Inventors is a non-profit member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes,with over 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide.