The 2025 Pasteur Network Annual Meeting (PNAM), organized jointly with the Institut Pasteur in Ho Chi Minh City, was held from October 21 to 24, 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. With a focus on key topics like epidemic preparedness, climate-sensitive diseases and equity in health research, PNAM 2025 was attended by more than 200 members of the Pasteur Network and its international partners.

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The opening ceremony featured a presentation by Shomy Hasan Chowdhury, an award-winning water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) activist and co-founder of the global non-profit Awareness 360, as well as addresses by Vietnamese Health Minister Lan Hong Dao, Trung Nguyen, Director of the Institut Pasteur in Ho Chi Minh City, Mario Moreira, President of the Pasteur Network, Yasmine Belkaid, President of the Institut Pasteur and Vice-President of the Pasteur Network, and Rebecca Grais, Executive Director of the Pasteur Network.
 
Watch the opening ceremony
One of the highlights of the four-day event was the "40 Under 40" initiative, which shone a light on 40 early career scientists under the age of 40 in the Pasteur Network who have demonstrated excellence in scientific research and public health leadership. They led six plenary sessions on arbovirus surveillance, the pathogenesis of emerging respiratory viruses, the microbiota, community involvement in research, vaccine production and gender equity in science.

PNAM 2025 reflected the strategic vision of the Pasteur Network to strengthen epidemic preparedness, support sustainable and inclusive research, and promote knowledge sharing among the global community.
 

Grégoire Davignon, winner of the 2025 Talent Award

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At the PNAM ceremony on October 22, Dr. Grégoire Davignon, a molecular biologist at the Institut Pasteur de Nouvelle-Calédonie and Associate Researcher at the Université de Nouvelle-Calédonie, was presented with the Talent Award. This award, funded by the Institut Pasteur since 2017, goes to early career scientists in the Pasteur Network with high scientific potential. For the second time, this year's award recognized excellence in the category "Science and Communication," aimed at scientists seeking to reach out and share their research with society.

Grégoire Davignon is conducting innovative research on leptospirosis, a neglected zoonotic disease that is becoming an increasing public health concern, especially in tropical regions. His focus is the genetic regulation mechanisms of Leptospira interrogans biofilms, which play a crucial role in enabling the bacteria to adapt and persist in the environment.

As well as his scientific research, Grégoire Davignon is highly active in scientific communication and public outreach. As a semi-finalist in the French national "Three Minute Thesis" competition, he presented his research in an accessible, engaging way to a broad audience. His communication skills also earned him an award during an international hackathon on innovation in Australia, where he successfully presented a project on algae-based biomaterials.

This ninth edition of the Talent Award once again promotes the key role of scientific communication in public health. Grégoire Davignon's career highlights the synergy between research and scientific outreach and the importance of sharing science with the communities it is being developed for.
 
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