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News | 2021.02.08
Antibiotic response in bacteria: the role of membrane vesicles
Membrane vesicles (also known as extracellular vesicles) are produced by all kinds of organisms. They are small lipid bags that come off a donor cell and get internalized by a recipient cell. Their role is to carry biological information and they are described as key intercellular communication players. However, their role in the microbial world is still very much unknown. Researchers from the...
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Document de presse | 2021.02.12
Heat islands and lack of running water promote dengue fever in Delhi, India
What if more inclusive urban planning for poor populations was key to fighting dengue fever? This is what researchers from the CNRS, the Institut Pasteur and the Indian Council of Medical Research1 have demonstrated using a geographical approach applied to the greater city of Delhi (India). Their study is published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Disease on 11 February 2021. Dengue is a...
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Document de presse | 2021.02.12
Comment: The tortuous path to ending the Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated health-care systems, shut down schools and communities, and plunged the world into an economic recession. While 2020 was a challenging year, 2021 looks to be difficult with the emergence of multiple variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The race to vaccinate the world will need to respond to the pathogen's constant evolution...
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News | 2021.02.15
Discovery of messenger RNA in 1961
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, words that just a year ago would have been the preserve of scientists have entered everyday language. One example is PCR, used for diagnostic tests. Another term that was once unfamiliar and is now on everyone's lips is messenger RNA, the miraculous molecule that has led to vaccines being administered to the general population less than a year after...
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News | 2021.03.09
Whooping cough: light shed on the entry mechanism of a key Bordetella pertussis virulence factor
Bordetella pertussis is the agent responsible for whooping cough, a disease that is currently on the rise. In particular, the bacterium produces the CyaA toxin. A consortium including several teams from the Institut Pasteur, CNRS, and Sorbonne University, working closely with the C2RT Proteins Pole technical cores and several SOLEIL and ESRF synchrotron light lines, has examined the entry...
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News | 2021.02.16
Quantitative biological image analysis and cell motility
Biological image analysis using mathematical methods, artificial intelligence and computer visualization techniques has become an essential tool for biological research and an effective driver for new discoveries. In a publication in Patterns (Cell Press)1, scientists from the "Bioimage Analysis Unit" recently presented the results of multidisciplinary research using quantitative image...
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Report | 2021.02.22
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 epidemic: the Institut Pasteur's response, scientific research and discoveries in 2020
The Institut Pasteur is one of the world's leading centers for research on infectious diseases. This area is therefore one of the priority research areas of its 2019-2023 strategic plan. On January 27, 2020, a 'coronavirus task force' was set up to respond to the urgency of this health crisis, by studying the virus and the disease it causes - the task force was created at a time when the 11...
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Document de presse | 2021.02.18
Improving immunotherapies for blood cancers: real-time exploration in the tumor
Monoclonal antibodies are part of the therapeutic arsenal for eliminating cancer cells. Some make use of the immune system to act and belong to a class of treatment called "immunotherapies." But how do these antibodies function within the tumor? And how can we hope to improve their efficacy? Using innovative in vivo imaging approaches, scientists from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm visualized in...
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Report | 2021.03.18
Hearing loss: stepping up research
In recent years, progress in research on hearing mechanisms and the factors responsible for hearing disorders has raised hopes for future preventive and curative therapies. Currently the only solutions for hearing loss are external hearing aids and cochlear implants. The issue is becoming increasingly urgent given the number of people affected by hearing loss, the most common sensory disorder in...
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Document de presse | 2021.02.26
Covid-19: Keeping schools as safe as possible
A year into the pandemic, and confronted with continued resurgence in transmission, over 800 million schoolchildren, more than half the world’s student population, still face substantial disruptions to their education. These range from full school closures in 31 countries to reduced or part time academic schedules in another 48 countries. Some countries, such as Norway and France, chose largely...
