June 06, 2025
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
EMBO gold medal, French Academy of Sciences: Institut Pasteur scientists recognized
• EMBO Gold Medal awarded to David Bikard
David Bikard, head of Synthetic biology unit has been awarded the EMBO Gold Medal 2025 in recognition of his pioneering work on microbial genetics. His research explores genetic innovation driven by the arms race between bacteria and phages, with a focus on using CRISPR tools to study and control bacterial functions.
The EMBO Gold Medal is awarded annually to young scientists for outstanding contributions to the life sciences in Europe. The winner receives a medal and a bursary of 10,000 euros.
Young independent group leaders play a major role in building a strong research environment. The EMBO Gold Medal acknowledges and highlights remarkable achievements of this group.
Read the EMBO press release
• Yasmine Belkaid elected as a new member of the French Academy of Sciences
The ceremony to welcome new members of the French Academy of Sciences elected in 2024 took place on June 3. The new members include Yasmine Belkaid, who was elected to the "Molecular and Cellular Biology, Genomics" section (see the newsletter on December 20, 2024).
The formal ceremony, held in the prestigious Institut de France building, was attended by families, friends and colleagues, as well as the Chairman of the Institut Pasteur Board of Governors, Yves Saint-Geours, who came to congratulate Yasmine Belkaid on her admission to the Academy.
After a welcome from the Republican Guard, the President of the Academy of Sciences, Françoise Combes, opened the ceremony alongside Antoine Triller and Etienne Ghys, Permanent Secretaries of the Academy, and outgoing President Alain Fischer.
Françoise Combes pointed out that "the Academy was completely closed to women for more than three centuries" and that "the first elected female member in 1979 was Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat, who passed away this year at the age of 101." She also emphasized the fact that "since then the Academy has been making up for lost time," and that 18% of members are now women, compared with 6% twenty years ago. This year, for the first time since the Academy of Sciences was founded in 1666, a majority of women were elected: ten women and eight men. This highly symbolic milestone is an important step toward better representation for women in all areas of research and innovation. Academy President Françoise Combes concluded her address by reminding the newly elected members that their experience and vision gives them an important role to play in defending both basic research and the values attached to science in society.
Antoine Triller, Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, then outlined Yasmine Belkaid's background and career. He highlighted her key discoveries in the field of mucosal immunology, especially the essential role of the microbiota in the immune response to pathogens and vaccines.
Yasmine Belkaid, for whom it is a great honor to be joining the Academy of Sciences, expressed "her immense satisfaction at working in research, and especially exploring the extraordinary relationship between the immune system and the microbiota." After a presentation of her research entitled "How do microbes control the immune system?", Yasmine Belkaid was keen to draw attention to the importance of collective research, especially the research of hundreds of early career scientists around the world who today are finding themselves in a weaker position because of unprecedented attacks on science.
She closed her address by dedicating her election to them and emphasizing that "for me, joining the Academy means working with you all so that together we can protect the future of science."
Photos: Hafida Fsihi