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Pascale Cossart at a conference of microbiology

Pascale Cossart is a French biologist and a chemist, specialised in cell microbiology. She was born in 1948. She is a teacher in the Pasteur Institute since 2006, member of Science Academy since 2002.

Biography

Coming from a family of industrialists, Pascale Cossart fell in love with science in hight school. She studied chemistry in Lille where she earned a Master of Science degree. In 1971 she obtained a Master of Science degree from Georgetown University and, in 1977, a doctorate of science under the direction of Georges Cohen at Paris VII University. Pascale Cossart has been director of a research unit at the Institut Pasteur since 1991, and has been an outstanding class teacher since 2006. She has published numerous articles on the molecular and cellular biology of the pathogenic bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. His major contributions to the field of host-pathogen interactions including how listeria manages to pass the intestinal wall have earned him many national and international honors.

Pasteur intistue, Paris

Some of the main milestones of his scientific career include:

• In 1987, the discovery of the first virulence factor of Listeria monocytogenes, listeriolysin O (LLO),
• In 1991 and 1995, the detection of internalin (InlA) and InlB, two surface proteins of Listeria Monocytogenes allowing the entry of this bacterium into human cells,
• In 1992, the identification of the ActA surface protein, which allows Listeria monocytogenes to move in the cytosol of infected cells by polymerizing actin; the elucidation of the molecular bases of this agility has greatly contributed to the understanding of the cytoskeleton polymerization mechanisms,
• In 2005, highlighting the role of clathrin in the endocytosis of large objects such as bacteria,
• More recently, the exploration of the Listeria monocytogenes transcriptome, defining a panorama of the expression of virulence genes, and highlighting new regulatory mechanisms (non-coding RNA, riboswitch).

Pascale Cossart has been a member of the National Ethics Advisory Committee since 2009.

Mains distinctions

• Member of EMBO (1995),
• Member of the Academia Europaea (1998),
• Correspondent of the Academy of Sciences (1999),
• International Research Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2000),
• Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (2001),
• Member of the Academy of Sciences (2002),
• Member of the American Academy of Microbiology (2004),
• Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (2009),
• Honorary Doctorate of the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (2009),
• Foreign Member of the Royal Society (United Kingdom) (2010),
• Elected Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences for Chemical, Biological and Medical Sciences in July 2015, taking office on 1 January 2016,
• Commander of the Legion of Honor (2013),
• Commander of the National Order of Merit (2010).

Mains Prices

• Carlos J. Finlay UNESCO Prize for Microbiology, UNESCO (1995),
• Louis Rapkine Medal (1997),
• L'Oreal-UNESCO Prize for Women and Science (1998),
• Richard Lounsbery Award from the Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences (1998),
• Gold Medal Louis Pasteur of the Swedish Society of Medicine (2000),
• Nestlé Research Award "The Man and his Nutrition" (2000),
• Senior Valade Award from the Fondation de France (2003),
• Inserm Fundamental Research Award (2005),
• Prestige Medal of the Cochin Institute (2006),
• GlaxoSmithKline International ASM Member of the Year (2007),
• Robert Koch Prize (2007),
• Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2008).