Reminder: International conference – "Nobel 50 years. Jacob, Lwoff and Monod as founders of molecular biology"

In 1965, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to André Lwoff, Jacques Monod and François Jacob "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis". Over and above the prestige of winning the Nobel Prize, the research carried out by these three Pasteurian scientists, often in collaboration with other colleagues (including Elie Wollman and Melvin Cohn), is generally considered to be among the most significant contributions to the foundation of molecular biology. The approach used by Jacques Monod and François Jacob to develop the principles of genetic regulation soon became central to our understanding of genetic interactions and the embryogenesis mechanism in metazoans.

The aim of this conference is to take a fresh look at the meaning of the operon model in the light of the biological developments of the 20th century. Firstly the "prehistory" of the operon model will be examined, in particular the two research programs – the first of which investigated the mechanism behind enzyme adaptation and the second the phenomenon of lysogeny – that ultimately converged in the work carried out by Jacques Monod and François Jacob. The second session will focus on the legacy of the operon model and the opposition it faced from the 1960s to the 1990s in the fields of developmental biology, evolution theory and systems biology. The final session will look at this major scientific breakthrough from a new angle, analyzing the complex links that were formed between science, philosophy, ethics and even politics during the founding stages of molecular biology at the Institut Pasteur.

We hope that as many as possible will be able to take part in this event.

The conference is free but prior registration is required via the following link.

Consult the program

If you have any questions, please contact Aude Cambon: aude.cambon@pasteur.fr