November 27, 2020
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
Karolinska Institutet, Academy of Sciences: two Institut Pasteur scientists recognized
- Pascale Cossart appointed as honorary doctor at the Karolinska Institute
Pascale Cossart has been appointed by the Board of Research at Karolinska Institute together with Sven Hagströmer and Thomas Sakmar as new honorary doctor of the Karolinska Institute. The ceremony to formally confer her doctorate at Stockholm City Hall on 13 November 2020 has been postponed for sanitary reasons to may 2021.
Pascale Cossart is a world-leading expert in the field of infection biology. Through groundbreaking research combining microbiology and cell biology, she has shown how interaction between the bacterium Listeria – that she uses as a model- and human cells can cause an infection. She pioneered the research field today known as cellular microbiology. In addition to her work as professor at the Pasteur Institute, Pascale Cossart has acted to strengthen European research on microbiology and cell biology.
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- François-Xavier Weill, winner of the Jean-Pierre Lecocq Prize (Applied Sciences)
The two Jean-Pierre Lecocq Prizes, set up in 1992, are awarded every other year by the French Academy of Sciences. One prize is awarded for basic science and the other for applied science. Both prizes go to scientists or research teams who have carried out significant research in the field of molecular biology and its applications. The laureates may be based in France or abroad, but at least every other prize is awarded to a scientist working in France.
This
year's applied science prize was awarded to François-Xavier Weill. François-Xavier Weill is a Director of Research at the Institut Pasteur, Head of the Enteric Bacterial Pathogens Unit and Head of the National Reference Center for Escherichia coli, Shigella and Salmonella. François-Xavier Weill is a physician and biologist who for the past 20 years has focused on diversity, genetic evolution and the circulation of pathogenic bacteria, especially antibiotic-resistant bacteria. His work in the field of microbial genomics has improved our understanding of the evolutionary history of major pathogens such as the agents of cholera, typhoid and paratyphoid fever, dysentery and foodborne salmonellosis. The results of his research have been published in prestigious scientific journals and some have been transposed to public health strategies.