Interview with Gérard Eberl – leader of priority area 3 "Origins of diseases"

In the lead-up to the Town Hall meeting due to take place on June 30, the senior management team and the Department of Communications and Public Affairs wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to the scientists responsible for scientific priorities identified in the Strategic Plan, so you can find out more about their roles, the challenges entailed by their priority areas, key projects, and also upcoming events.
 

Interview with Gérard Eberl,
Head of the Microenvironment and Immunity Unit
and Leader of Priority 3, "Origins of diseases"

► Can you tell us about the scientific priority that has been assigned to you as part of the Pasteur 2030 Strategic Plan?

I have been assigned the scientific priority of investigating the origin of chronic diseases that are non-infectious but may be caused by microbes. It's a vast field potentially involving all the scientific departments. These diseases, whose progression is slow but often dangerous, are on the rise across the globe. They are sometimes linked to the sequelae of infections (HIV, COVID, Chlamydia, Leishmania, Candida, etc.) and also include microbiome imbalances, chronic inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, allergies, cancer, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and depression. These diseases often develop late in life, which means that the factors at play accumulate over a lifetime. While the question of why people develop Parkinson's or cancer may appear a simple one, the answer is not so straightforward, as these are multi-factor diseases. What actually causes people to develop cancer? Is it due to genetics, personal history, environment, lifestyle or microbes encountered over the course of a lifetime? Whether in relation to infectious or non-infectious diseases, the basic question is why do people fall ill? What harmful combination of factors ultimately causes us to fall ill? That's the essence of the fundamental challenge and philosophy of priority 3: understanding this multi-factor paradigm to identify markers of predisposition, while also pinpointing solutions for prevention and appropriate therapeutic solutions.

► How does the Institut Pasteur stand out from its competitors when addressing health issues in which the multi-factor element plays such a big role?

The Institut Pasteur boasts a unique advantage: a multidisciplinary scientific team (13 departments and 13 disciplines) based on a relatively contained campus, which allows scientists to liaise easily with colleagues from a variety of disciplines. That's actually how I got into neuroimmunology – through an encounter with a neuroscientist colleague at the end of the corridor! While neurology and immunology are, on the face of it, two separate disciplines, there are close ties between them at the Institut Pasteur.
Multidisciplinary projects being developed within the priority area for which I am responsible under the Strategic Plan address topics such as pregnancy- and fertility-related diseases, inflammatory diseases, mental illnesses, cancer, and aging-related illnesses. They involve all the different departments.

A multidisciplinary approach is hardwired into the Institut Pasteur's DNA, mirroring the multi-factor nature of the diseases we are investigating!

► How is your work organized?

In concrete terms, each priority area is allocated a budget enabling it to do things like organize scientific events, including topic-specific half-day or lunch events aimed at bringing together external and internal stakeholders to create scientific dialog and synergies.

Given the multi-factor nature of the diseases and the multidisciplinary research carried out by my colleagues, I opted to set up a steering committee with one scientist per department as the basis for organizing work within the priority area for which I have responsibility. This person is the dedicated contact for any research unit wishing to contribute to it. The purpose of this committee is to allow us to hold discussions, pass resolutions regarding communications or coordination of the priority area, and select projects. We're actually in the process of discussing issues relating to scientific coordination, with initiatives such as Seed Grants in the pipeline aimed at developing ideas and projects. As yet, we've met once and aim to get together every three months or at specific times as required for the various projects.

Any matters relating to funding, coordination, and internal and external communications are addressed in close partnership with the Department of Communications, the Department of Philanthropy, the DARRI, and the Department of Education among others.

► Will you be involved in cross-cutting projects? If so, which ones?

Priority 3 is an inherently cross-cutting area, given its multidisciplinary approach.

We work in synergy with all departments and also all heads of other scientific priorities under the Strategic Plan to discuss ideas concerning development as well as areas of synergy and convergence. This work is already under way with our colleagues from priority 4 "Health & disease at the extremes of life" whose projects overlap closely with our own.

In addition to this multidisciplinary approach, we are able to draw on the 33 institutes in the Pasteur Network, broadening our scope and giving us unique geographic diversity. The network is a valuable partner for priority 3. It brings a different type of cross-cutting cooperation to our work. We liaise with Pasteur Network senior management to arrange meetings with its members (presentation seminars and discussions).

And, as mentioned earlier, we also work with the support departments to help us organize our scientific priority area.

 
► What is your goal for 2030 as head of scientific priority? What results do you intend to achieve?

The following goals have been set for this priority area:

    •    Consolidate and embed the multidisciplinary approach on campus and in the network
    •    Develop flagship projects based on this approach to face the challenge of complex, chronic diseases
    •    Recruit researchers able to work across traditional disciplinary boundaries
    •    Provide a model for education to encourage a multidisciplinary approach in this area
    •    Develop a vision for the Institut Pasteur that is accessible to the public and sponsors and meets their expectations
    •    Work with industry to determine common interests in relation to this type of diseases