The scientific priority 3 “Origins of Disease” of the Pasteur 2030 strategic plan, is pleased to announce the four projects selected from among the twenty-four received in response to its Seed Grants 2026 call for proposals launched last October. 

As a reminder, this internal funding program is designed to encourage young researchers at the Institut Pasteur by supporting exploratory and interdisciplinary projects aimed at answering questions related to the priority area. 

List of the four selected projects: 

• “Integrating CRISPRi screens and in vitro microbiota model to uncover AIEC LF82 genetic factors involved in colonization and Crohn’s disease development” - Thaís Vilela Rodrigues, a postdoctoral fellow in the Microbiome-Host Interactions five-year group and Nathan Barrabes, a PhD student in the Synthetic Biology unit,

• “Decoding the neural roots of thymic sexual dimorphism” - Valentina Venzin, a postdoctoral fellow in the Meta-organism unit and Amy Blondeau, a PhD student in the Microenvironment and Immunity unit,

• “Metabolic Disorders and Infectious Disease Risk: Assessing Epidemiological and Mechanistic Evidence in South America” - Javier Rosado Sandoval, a postdoctoral fellow in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Analytics five-year group and Mathilde André, a postdoctoral fellow in the Human Evolutionary Genetics unit,

• “Cycling Towards Identity: MODEling the Fate Engine in Pluripotent Cells” - Guillaume Burnet, a postdoctoral fellow in the Epigenomics, Proliferation and the Identity of Cells unit and Nathan Quiblier, a postdoctoral fellow at Institut Imagine.