institution
Report on the Town Hall meeting on December 15
On Monday December 15, the senior management invited all employees to a Town Hall-style meeting. Staff turned out in great numbers, both in person and remotely, with more than 400 following the meeting via Zoom.
The event was an opportunity to share the latest news from campus and present several highlights from the Institut Pasteur's recent scientific activities. With many scientific and support staff in attendance, this latest Town Hall meeting also focused on the implementation of some of the large-scale projects in the Pasteur 2030 Strategic Plan. Particular emphasis was placed on the importance of working together to support and strengthen the Institut Pasteur's excellence.
At a time of ongoing and increasing threats to research worldwide, Institut Pasteur President Yasmine Belkaid opened the meeting by stressing the need to "protect the Institut Pasteur as a center of excellence and steer it towards the future." This will also require effective communication measures and the establishment of a permanent dialog with society. "Given the challenges facing the world today, a strong voice and international leadership are needed now more than ever."
Continuing the introductory segment, Yasmine Belkaid, Alban Hautier, Senior Executive Vice-President Administration, Antoine Bogaerts, Director of Philanthropy, and Henri Pitron, Vice-President Communications and Public Affairs, took to the floor in turn to present:
the scientific ambition driven by Pasteur 2030 and initiatives to invest in the next generation of scientists, through cross-cutting departments and scientific priorities, key projects, European and international partnerships, current and future scientific recruitments, and measures to encourage early career researchers, both PhD students and postdoctoral fellows;
internal developments to encourage scientific excellence: finance, social and employment policy, simplification;
external engagement, with gifts and support on the rise from donors and benefactors including the general public, major donors, and companies in France and abroad. The 2025 Pasteurdon campaign has already raised a significant amount with the support of media partners. Efforts to boost the external visibility of the Institut Pasteur's research by leveraging various communication channels (e.g. social media, videos, articles and interviews) were also presented.
The introduction was followed by a sequence showing how 2025 was an outstanding year for the Institut Pasteur's science. Nazaré Guimard, Head of the Grants Office (GO), presented the many successful proposals supported by the Grants Office, some of which secured highly prestigious grants at national, European and international level. She mentioned two resources in particular: the new version of the Grant Finder tool and the first report on the impact of grants for the Institut Pasteur's research. Hafida Fsihi, Head of the Scientific Awards and Honors Office, then presented the 42 scientists (20 women and 22 men) on the Institut Pasteur's campuses who received awards for their research in 2025. These awards are a sign of international recognition, national visibility, internal appreciation and recognition of young talent, as well as disciplinary diversity and the excellence of the Institut Pasteur's innovation.
The next part of the event focused on Pasteur 2030 in action, starting with contributions from the leaders of the four scientific priorities in the Pasteur 2030 Strategic Plan. They presented the various initiatives within their respective priorities in turn, as well as some interdisciplinary initiatives covering several of the priorities. A number of regular events have now been introduced, and seed grants have been established to give early career scientists the opportunity to explore new ideas in their research. The priority leaders also presented some of the events already lined up for 2026. The year ahead looks set to be full of exciting developments!
Several representatives of large-scale projects were then invited to speak, starting with Laurent Essioux, Director of the Research and Resource Center for Scientific Informatics (C2RI), who presented "Pasteur AI," an initiative that will leverage various drivers to position AI at the center of biology research by incorporating new skills, building an ecosystem of "AI-ready" data, accelerating innovation with industry, and strengthening the Institut Pasteur's academic expertise, all with the aim of embracing the many challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Sebastian Baumgarten and Michael White then took to the floor. Sebastian reported on the 2025 Pasteur Network Annual Meeting held in Vietnam in October to encourage and showcase the work of early career researchers and strengthen links between member institutes. Michael spoke about the PvSeroRDT (P. vivax Serological Rapid Diagnostic Test) project, led in close collaboration with the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, aimed at developing a rapid serology test to detect malaria. Lastly, Mallory Perrin-Wolff presented the rollout of incentive scientific programs, effective collaborative tools with a variety of aims: PERL, to support multidisciplinarity at the Institut Pasteur, SPARK, to strengthen links with European research (especially EMBL), and P2T, to provide technological training for early career scientists at the Institut Pasteur. She also spoke about the PRC scheme offering postdoctoral grants to encourage young talent.
The third part of the event involved presentations of several outstanding scientific projects that reflect the dynamism and quality of the Institut Pasteur's research. The following scientists spoke in turn:
Simonetta Gribaldo, Head of the Evolutionary Biology of the Microbial Cell Unit, to present her Chair of Excellence related to her research on human-associated methanogenic archaea.
Camille Berthelot, Head of the Comparative Functional Genomics G5, who has recently received a grant from the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller for her research to identify the genetic basis underpinning changes in the uterus (Evutero).
Lucie Peduto, Head of the Stroma, Inflammation and Tissue Repair Unit, and Han Li, Head of the Cellular Plasticity in Age-Related Pathologies Unit, to present their respective research that is part of the Explore program, alongside Elisa Gomez-Perdiguero, on postpartum breast cancer and microenvironment.
Caroline Demangel, Head of the Immunobiology and Therapy Unit, to speak about the Enodia project, a wonderful illustration of how a discovery can be turned into an application. The initial discovery was the molecular mechanism behind Buruli ulcer pathogenesis. The ultimate destination, after a journey with multiple steps, milestones and players, was the company Enodia Therapeutics.
The final section featured several early career scientists, who were given the opportunity to present their respective research. Aimée Taylor, an Institut Pasteur research associate in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Analytics Unit, Núria Ros i Rocher, a CNRS research associate in the Evolutionary Cell Biology and Evolution of Morphogenesis Unit, Sarah Merkling, Head of the new Insect Infection and Immunity G5, and Nader Yatim, Head of the new Myeloid Cells, Inflammation and Aging G5, spoke in turn about the challenges and issues related to their research.
→ Retrouvez le replay du Town Hall ainsi que la présentation
Le rendez-vous s’est terminé par un cocktail aux saveurs de Noël.
Photos: Thomas Lang