Forschung

Research priorities: Cellular Microbiology, Bacterial-Cell Interactions, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology of the Pathogenic Bacterium Listeria monocytogenes

Pascale Cossart is a French microbiologist who pioneered cellular microbiology. Her work focuses on the interactions of bacteria and cells. In particular, she conducted research on the cellular and molecular biology of the bacterium Listeria monoctogenes.

Pascale Cossart is considered a pioneer within the field of "cellular microbiology ", which emerged in the 1990s when molecular and cellular biology approaches converged.

Pathogenic bacteria enter the host organism via the gastrointestinal tract, the respiratory or urinary tract, and, in the case of injuries, through the skin. They can induce a wide variety of diseases and may even lead to death. Pascale Cossart sought answers to questions such as: How does a bacterium select its host, how does it attack it, and how does it ultimately succeed in colonizing it?

She also aimed to identify a variety of bacterial virulence factors and strategies and therefore was able to explain complicated mechanisms that enable bacteria to enter cells and tissues, survive inside them, and spread.

For example, Pascale Cossart showed how a bacterium targets and crosses the body barrier. She also discovered new mechanisms that allow bacteria to downregulate the host's innate immune response. Pascale Cossart also revealed new mechanisms of gene regulation via RNA in particular an RNA thermosensor regulating virulence. Pascale Cossart's research has established the pathogen Listeria as one of the most extensively studied microorganisms and a benchmark reference for infection biology. Her discoveries on this organism revealed mechanisms that other microbes also exhibit and allowed to solve important questions in cell biology.

New techniques and creative approaches, chosen by Pascale Cossart, allowed us to unravel many mysteries concerning the pathways and mechanisms pathogens choose to produce infection. Her groundbreaking discoveries in the field of molecular biology have significantly improved the understanding of the basic mechanisms of infectious diseases and indicated new ways to combat them.

Werdegang

• since 2006 Professor “de Classe Exceptionnelle”, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• 1997-2005 Professor, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• since 1991 Head of the “Unité des Interactions Bactéries-Cellules”, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• 1988-1996 Head of Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• 1980-1987 Research Fellow at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• 1977 Ph.D. in biochemistry, University of Paris VII, France
• 1976-1979 Assistant at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• 1974-1975 Professor of Biochemistry at the Royal Medical School, Vientiane, Laos
• 1971 M.S. in chemistry, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., USA
• 1970-1971 Fellow at the Georgetown University, Washington D. C., USA
• 1969-1970 Assistant at the IUT of Applied Biology of Lille, France
• 1968 M.S. in chemistry, Lille University, France

Funktionen

• since 2016 Secrétaire Perpétuel de l’Académie des Sciences

Auszeichnungen und Mitgliedschaften

• 2021 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology, US-National Academy of Science
• 2020 Grand officier of the Legion of Honor
• 2020 Honorary Doctorate, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2019 FEMS Lwoff Award, Federation of European Microbiological Societies
• 2018 Heinrich Wieland Prize
• 2018 René and Andre Duquesne Prize
• 2017 Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine
• 2015 Doctor honoris causa of the University of Birmingham, UK
• 2015 ERC advanced grant
• 2014 FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award
• since 2014 Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
• 2013 Seeliger Award
• 2013 Balzan Prize
• 2011 Van Deenen Medal
• 2010 Commandeur of the Ordre national du Mérite
• since 2010 Fellow of the Royal Society
• 2009 Doctor honoris causa, EPFL, Lausanne
• since 2009 Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
• 2008 René Descartes Prize
• 2008 Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine
• 2008 ERC Advanced Grant Award
• 2007 Robert Koch Prize
• 2007 Officier de la Legion d’honneur
• since 2002 Member of the “Académie des Sciences”
• since 2001 Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 2005 INSERM Prize of Fundamental Research
• 2000-2017 Howard Hughes Medical Institute international Research Scholar
• since 2004 Member of the Academy of Microbiology
• 2000 Louis Pasteur Gold Medal
• 1998 L’Oreal/Unesco Prize for Women in Science
• 1998 Richard Lounsbery Prize
• since 1998 Member of the Academia Europae
• 1997 Louis Rapkine Award
• since 1996 Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
• 1995 Carlos J. Finlay Prize for Microbiology