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Biography
Prof. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
Prof. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is the Director of
the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 together with Prof. Luc
Montagnier for their discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Professors Barré-Sinoussi’s and
Montagnier's discovery made rapid cloning of the HIV-1 genome possible. This has
allowed identification of important details in its replication cycle and how the
virus interacts with its host. Furthermore, it led to development of methods to
diagnose infected patients and to screen blood products, which has limited the
spread of the AIDS pandemic. The unprecedented development of several classes of
new antiviral drugs is also a result of knowledge of the details of the viral
replication cycle. The combination of prevention and treatment has substantially
decreased the spread of the disease and dramatically increased the life
expectancy among millions of treated patients worldwide.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi received her Ph.D. in virology
from the Pasteur Institute and the University of Sciences in Paris, France, in
1975. After a brief internship at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda,
Maryland, she returned to the Pasteur Institute where she now heads her own
research group within the Virology Department.
Professor Barré-Sinoussi has been involved in retrovirology
research since the early 1970s. She is recognized for her contributions to
HIV/AIDS research, in particular as the first author of the publication that
reported in 1983 the discovery of a retrovirus, later named HIV. In 1988 she
became responsible for her own laboratory at the Pasteur Institute and initiated
resrarch programs on viral and host determinants of HIV/AIDS pathogenesis.
Between 1988 and 1998 Professor Barré-Sinoussi has been
implicated in collaborative programs on HIV vaccine research, while today the
research programs of her team are focused on regulations of HIV/SIV infection
(intracellular restrictions of HIV-1 infection and innate immunity, in
particular regulations of T-cell activation resulting from the NK-dendritic cell
interplay).
Professor Barré-Sinoussi has actively
contributed to several scientific societies and committees at the Pasteur
Institute as well as to other AIDS organizations, such as the National Agency
for AIDS Research in France, several International AIDS Conferences and as a
consultant to the
WHO and the
UNAIDS-HIV. She is President of the Scientific Committee of the National
Agency for AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Research (ANRS) and head of the ANRS site in
South East Asia.
Professor Barré-Sinoussi has established numerous
collaborations with countries deeply affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and has
promoted integration between HIV/AIDS research and actions in resource limited
countries, in particular through the Pasteur Institute’s International Network
and the coordination of ANRS research programs in Cambodia and Vietnam. Since
the early 1980s she has been committed to capacity building, training and
technology transfers on site in Africa and Asia.
Professor Barré-Sinoussi has published more than 220
articles in international scientific journals, has presented more than 250
papers at international conferences and has 17 patents. Her team of around 20
scientists is currently working on how the HIV virus is transmitted from mother
to child, on innate mechanisms that control HIV infection and on HIV-related
simian viruses that infect monkeys.
Professor Barré-Sinoussi has received numerous national and
international awards including the Sovac Prize, the Körber Foundation Prize for
the Promotion of European Science, the French Academy of Science Prize, the King
Faisal International Prize and the International AIDS Society Prize. She has
been Officer in the Order of the Légion d’Honneur since 2006.
In 2009 Professor Barré-Sinoussi wrote an open letter to
Pope Benedict XVI in protest over his statements that condoms are at best
ineffective in the AIDS crisis.
Topic: Future challenges in HIV/AIDS prevention and
therapy
Schedule:
Wednesday, April 7, 2010:
12:00 Luncheon hosted at the University of Cambodia
14:00 Keynote speech and dialogue at the University of
Cambodia followed by a reception
19:00 Dinner hosted by the University of Cambodia at
Cambodiana Hotel
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